This Weight-Loss Drug May Have an Unexpected Benefit for Your Lungs

Keypoints:

• Semaglutide use was linked to nearly 40% fewer asthma attacks in a large UK study
• The same drug was linked to roughly 20% fewer COPD flare-ups
• Researchers compared semaglutide against sulfonylureas, another diabetes drug class
• Other GLP-1 drugs, including liraglutide and dulaglutide, showed no similar effect
• Findings were presented at the European Respiratory Society Congress in Barcelona

Semaglutide, the active ingredient in Ozempic and Wegovy, was linked to nearly 40% fewer asthma attacks in a large real-world study presented at the European Respiratory Society Congress in Barcelona. 

The same drug was associated with roughly 20% fewer COPD flare-ups. Researchers pulled the data from UK electronic health records, comparing tens of thousands of people who started semaglutide against those who started a different diabetes drug class called sulfonylureas.

The effect wasn't uniform across every GLP-1 drug on the market. Liraglutide, dulaglutide, and exenatide showed no similar reduction in airway exacerbations at any dose, pointing to something specific about semaglutide rather than a shared class effect. The benefit also scaled with dose, medium and high doses of semaglutide showed a stronger signal than lower ones, and the effect was more pronounced in asthma than in COPD.

Researchers believe anti-inflammatory properties tied to semaglutide's effect on metabolism may explain the pattern, since obesity and diabetes are both known to worsen asthma and COPD outcomes independent of weight alone. 

Dr. Bloom, one of the researchers involved, was careful to draw a line around what the finding actually shows. "These results are not enough to recommend medications specifically as treatment for asthma or COPD," he said. The study only shows an association, not proof of cause and effect, and researchers are now calling for future GLP-1 trials to track asthma and COPD outcomes directly to confirm the link.