People with asthma who were prescribed semaglutide, the drug sold as Ozempic and Wegovy, had almost 40% fewer asthma attacks than similar patients taking another class of diabetes medicine, according to research presented at the European Respiratory Society Congress in Barcelona.
The study used electronic medical records from the United Kingdom. Researchers at the National Heart and Lung Institute at Imperial College London ran four parallel analyses, each covering between 20,000 and 22,000 people who had started either a GLP-1 receptor agonist or a sulfonylurea, an older type of diabetes drug.
Fewer flare-ups for asthma and COPD
Patients with airway disease who received GLP-1 therapies had fewer asthma attacks and fewer COPD flare-ups than comparable patients on the other treatment.
"The effect was strongest with semaglutide, especially in people with asthma, where use of semaglutide appears to be associated with nearly a 40% reduction in asthma attacks," said Professor Chloe Bloom, who led the study. "Semaglutide also led to a 20% reduction in COPD flare-ups."
Why researchers are cautious
GLP-1 drugs are approved for type 2 diabetes and obesity. Earlier work suggested they may dampen inflammation and improve lung outcomes, but asthma and COPD have not been measured as outcomes in the trials that cleared the drugs for sale. That is why the team turned to real-world health records.
The team compared patients who started a GLP-1 drug with patients who started a sulfonylurea, a long-used oral diabetes medicine, so that the two groups had similar reasons to be treated. That design helps separate the effect of the drugs from other differences between the patients.
"Previous research suggests that they may have anti-inflammatory effects and may improve lung-related outcomes," Bloom said. Her team wanted to test whether those effects show up as fewer acute attacks in ordinary clinical care, not only in the controlled setting of a drug trial.
The results point to a possible extra benefit for patients who already qualify for the drugs because of diabetes or obesity. Dr. Bohee Lee presented the work.
The researchers say clinical trials are needed to confirm the link, and that the findings should not change treatment decisions on their own.