Many people suffering from sleep apnea have a new way to help them sleep more soundly. This month, the Food and Drug Administration expanded approval of Eli Lilly's weight loss drug Zepbound to include sleep apnea. Obvious sleep apnea as well.
On Friday, the FDA Officially approved Zepbound is a treatment for moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea in obese adults. In two large clinical trials The drug has successfully helped people lose weight and reduce symptoms of sleep apnea. Zepbound is now the first prescription drug approved for obstructive sleep apnea. It's a condition that affects about 12% of Americans.
sleep apnea It occurs when our body temporarily stops breathing during sleep. This causes the person's brain to wake up just enough to start breathing again. Only the cycle restarts when the person falls asleep. The more severe the sleep apnea, the more severe the sleep apnea. Apnea or decreased breathing only occurs more at night. (Although it's not always related to sleep apnea. But snoring is a sign of narrow airways while sleeping.) Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is caused by a physical blockage of the airway muscles. And it is the most common form of sleep apnea.
Although there are many risk factors for OSA, obesity is known to play a major role in the development of OSA. The active ingredient in Zepbound, tirzepatide, has been shown to be highly effective in treating obesity. With people losing more than 20% of their body weight in trials, Eli Lilly wants to test whether the drug can effectively treat sleep apnea.
cross Both experimentsTirzepatide performed better than expected compared to placebo. People lose between 18% and 20% of their body weight. On average The drug also reduced the frequency of sleep apnea episodes by up to two-thirds, with participants experiencing about 30 fewer episodes per hour, and up to 50% of those taking tirzepatide had no symptoms. After one year
“Today's approval represents the first drug treatment option for some patients with obstructive sleep apnea,” said Sally Seymour, director of the Division of Respiratory, Allergy and Critical care in the FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, said in statement Announcement of approval from the FDA. “This is an important step forward for patients with obstructive sleep apnea.”
Other highly effective sleep apnea treatments already exist, most notably continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP), so CPAP remains the gold standard option for many people, especially those with who have sleep apnea and are not obese, but the CPAP machine needs to be used every day at night This may be too much of a hassle for some people to tolerate in the long run. In contrast, weekly Zepbound injections may be much more convenient for some patients. in clinical trials Those who took both Zepbound and CPAP saw better results than the other groups. It highlights the potential benefits of combination therapy.
Zepbound and similar GLP-1 drugs are not without complications, though. The most common side effects include vomiting, diarrhea, and other gastrointestinal symptoms. These medicines are not cheap either. The list price is over $1,000 per month. But the expanded approval should make it easier for some people to secure Zepbound coverage, and the availability of additional interventions for sleep apnea would be invaluable. The same is true for obesity. This approval could very well open up a new era of sleep apnea treatment.