Eli Lilly’s weight-loss drug Zepbound has been found to reduce obstructive sleep apnea in adults with obesity, the drugmaker said in a statement Wednesday.
Obstructive sleep apnea affects about 39 million adults in the U.S., according to the National Council on Aging.
It occurs when a person’s upper airways become blocked during sleep, cutting off airflow during the night, which causes National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute it says. Obesity, which can narrow the airways, can increase a person’s risk.
If left untreated, sleep apnea can cause cardiac arrhythmias, heart failure, and death.
Lilly’s results were based on two studies of adults with obesity and moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea. The findings were announced in a press release and have not been published in medical journals or reviewed by outside scientists.
Researchers looked at whether Zepbound worked better than a placebo in reducing how many times per hour, on average, a person stopped breathing partially or completely during sleep.
In the first study, participants did not use PAP machines, or positive airway pressure, which gently blow air into the airways to prevent collapse. People in the second study used PAP machines.
The researchers found that after 52 weeks, Zepbound led to an average reduction of 27.4 events per hour in people not using PAP machines, compared to a reduction of 4.8 events per hour for people taking a placebo.
In people who used PAP machines, Zepbound led to an average reduction of 30.4 events per hour, compared to an average reduction of 6 events per hour for the placebo group.
Susan Spratt, an endocrinologist and senior medical director of the Office of Population Health Management at Duke Health in North Carolina who was not involved in the studies, applauded the research, saying the findings show that obesity is “not a matter of vanity. ”
“This is about treating a major health problem that reduces significant morbidity and mortality,” she said.
She said the findings could make insurers less reluctant to provide coverage for the weight-loss drug.
Last month, Medicare said it would cover Wegovy for certain patients after it was found to reduce the risk of heart disease.
Lilly said it plans to share additional details of the study results at the American Diabetes Association conference in June.
The company plans to present the results to the Food and Drug Administration by mid-year.
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