The “Wegovy” brand slimming syringe is sold at the Achat pharmacy in Mitte. The “Wegovy” slimming syringe has been available in Germany for a year.
Jens Kalaene | Image Alliance | fake images
A version of this article first appeared in CNBC's Healthy Returns newsletter, bringing the latest healthcare news directly to your inbox. Subscribe here to receive future editions.
Happy Thursday! New research showing additional health benefits of the weight loss drug Wegovy seems to emerge every week.
This time, NordiskThe successful treatment helped reduce knee pain in patients with a type of arthritis and obesity, according to research published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine.
The study was funded by Novo Nordisk, which is conducting several studies into other possible therapeutic uses of semaglutide, the active ingredient in Wegovy.
The results of the 68-week trial could be of great importance for the Danish drugmaker: They could pave the way for regulatory approval of semaglutide for osteoarthritis, a degenerative joint disease that causes cartilage and bone in the joints to break down. over time.
It would be another expansion of the accepted uses of this blockbuster drug.
It is the most common type of arthritis, affecting about 33 million people in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The condition is not a common part of aging, but it is common among adults age 45 and older.
So how is this condition related to obesity? The risk of developing this condition is four times higher in people with obesity, the study's lead author, Dr. Henning Bliddal, director and research professor at the Parker Institute in Denmark, said in a statement.
Losing weight can help reduce symptoms of knee osteoarthritis, but sticking to those lifestyle changes can be a challenge, Bliddal said. There are also not many other effective treatments for this condition.
“There is a significant need for sustainable, non-surgical treatment options for those living with obesity-related osteoarthritis,” Bliddal added.
Let's delve into more details about the test.
It included approximately 400 patients with knee osteoarthritis. Participants had an average age of 56 years and approximately 80% of the cohort were women, who experience osteoarthritis at a higher rate than men.
People received a weekly injection of semaglutide or a placebo for 68 weeks. Everyone also received guidance on how to maintain low-calorie diets and incorporate exercise into their daily lives.
Osteoarthritis patients who dieted, exercised, and took semaglutide lost more weight and reported greater reduction in knee pain than those who lost weight with diet and exercise alone. At the end of the trial, people taking semaglutide lost an average of nearly 14 percent of their body weight, or about 33 pounds, compared to just 3 percent among those who received a placebo.
Changes in body weight were also accompanied by reductions in pain, which was measured using a specific index that rates pain on a scale from 0 to 100. On average, patients in the trial started with an average pain score of 70. ,9.
Those taking semaglutide reported a significant reduction in pain (an average drop of about 42 points), while those in the placebo group had an average drop of 27.5 points.
But it's not clear whether semaglutide will have that benefit for all patients, such as those who are mildly obese or overweight. Most people enrolled in the trial had a high BMI, so researchers will need to replicate the findings in other populations.
Feel free to send any tips, suggestions, story ideas, and facts to Annika at [email protected].
Medicare Advantage is now a battleground on two fronts
Private Medicare Advantage plans have become a major source of conflict between major insurers, and it's now playing out on two fronts.
On the one hand, they are fighting the government over stricter quality ratings that are creating obstacles to profits at a time when plans are experiencing higher medical costs for their older members.
That's creating a second headache: a battle royale between the big MA players and the hospitals, which are where much of the biggest spending is incurred.
UnitedHealth is fighting on both fronts, suing the government over downgrading its plans' quality ratings, while at the same time raising a red flag about hospitals it says are “aggressively” coding patients and, in turn, increasing medical costs.
During their respective earnings calls, hospital operators Community Health, HCA and Tenet Health addressed what they called more “aggressive” denials from some payers.
Rate negotiations are becoming so bitter that more hospitals are threatening to not accept Medicare Advantage plans from some companies.
Now that more than half of seniors have private Medicare Advantage plans, this combative trend could create a growing gap in their coverage.
Please feel free to send any tips, suggestions, story ideas or information to Bertha at [email protected].
The latest in healthcare technology: Change Healthcare breach affected at least 100 million Americans
UnitedHealth Group's Change Healthcare broke a grim record last week: It officially suffered the largest healthcare data breach ever reported to federal regulators.
At least 100 million Americans were affected by the Change Healthcare cyberattack, according to an updated figure posted on the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office for Civil Rights breaches portal. The previous record was set by Anthem in 2015, when hackers compromised the data of 78.8 million patients.
The figure roughly matches the estimate that UnitedHealth CEO Andrew Witty shared with lawmakers in May, when he assumed that about a third of Americans had been affected. The company began sending written notices to affected people in late July.
Change Healthcare offers payment and revenue cycle management tools for medical providers and payers, as well as other solutions such as e-prescribing software. In February, UnitedHealth disclosed that a cyber threat actor breached part of the company's information technology network.
UnitedHealth took affected systems offline when the threat was detected, and the outage caused ripples across the U.S. healthcare sector. Many doctors were temporarily left with no way to fill prescriptions or receive payment for their services, and some providers took out thousands of dollars from your savings to keep your doors open.
In the months following the breach, UnitedHealth paid a $22 million ransom to the hackers, worked to get systems back online and confirmed that files containing personal information were compromised in the attack.
The exact type of data that was exposed in the breach varies from person to person, according to the UnitedHealth website. That means a combination of patients' contact information, health insurance information, medical records, billing and payment information could have been accessed.
UnitedHealth offers two years of free credit monitoring for identity theft protections for people who believe they have been affected. Patients can contact a dedicated call center to inquire about these offerings or speak with a doctor who can provide emotional support services, the company said.
Patients should also watch for suspicious activity on their tax returns and explanations of benefits, bank and credit card statements, according to the UnitedHealth website.
Please feel free to send any tips, suggestions, story ideas, or information to Ashley at [email protected].
