Wegovy may reduce knee pain in patients with osteoarthritis and obesity

“Wegovy” brand weight loss syringes are sold at the Achat Pharmacy in Mitte. The “Wegovy” weight loss injector has been on the market in Germany for a year.

Jens Kalane|Photo Alliance|Getty Images

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Happy Thursday! New research showing additional health benefits of the weight loss drug Wegovy seems to be emerging every week.

This time, Novo NordiskBlockbuster treatment reportedly helps reduce knee pain in arthritis and obesity patients Research published Wednesday In the New England Journal of Medicine.

The study was funded by Novo Nordisk, which is conducting multiple studies of other potential therapeutic uses for Wegovy’s active ingredient, semaglutide.

The results from the 68-week trial could be a big deal for the Danish drugmaker: It could pave the way for regulatory approval of semaglutide to treat osteoarthritis, a degenerative joint disease that can Causes the cartilage and bone in the joints to break down over time.

This would be another expansion of the acceptable uses of this blockbuster drug.

This is the most common type of arthritis, affecting about 33 million people in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This condition is not a normal part of aging, but is common in adults 45 and older.

So, what does this condition have to do with obesity? The trial’s lead study author, Dr. Henning Bliddal, director and research professor at the Parker Institute in Denmark, said in a research note that obese people have four times the risk of developing the disease. statement.

Bridahl said weight loss can help reduce knee osteoarthritis symptoms, but adhering to these lifestyle changes can be challenging. There aren’t many other effective treatments for this condition either.

“For those suffering from obesity-related osteoarthritis, there is a great need for non-surgical and sustainable treatment options,” Bridahl added.

Let’s dive into more details about the trial.

These included approximately 400 patients with knee osteoarthritis. The average age of the participants was 56, and about 80% were women, who develop osteoarthritis more frequently than men.

People were given either a weekly injection of semaglutide or a placebo for 68 weeks. Everyone also received guidance on how to maintain a low-calorie diet and incorporate exercise into their daily lives.

Osteoarthritis patients who lost weight through diet, exercise, and took semaglutide lost more weight and experienced greater reductions in knee pain than patients who lost weight through diet and exercise alone. At the end of the trial, patients taking semaglutide lost an average of nearly 14%, or about 33 pounds, while those taking a placebo lost just 3%.

Changes in weight are also accompanied by a reduction in pain, which is measured using a specific index from 0 to 100.

Patients taking semaglutide reported a significant reduction in pain, with an average decrease of about 42 points, while those in the placebo group reported an average decrease of 27.5 points.

But it’s unclear whether semaglutide has this benefit in all patients, such as those who are mildly obese or overweight. Most people who took part in the trial had a higher body mass index, so researchers must replicate the findings in other groups.

Please feel free to send Annika any tips, suggestions, story ideas and data: annikakim.constantino@nbcuni.com.

Medicare Advantage is now a battleground on two fronts

Private Medicare Advantage plans have become a significant source of conflict among major insurers, and it’s now playing out on two fronts.

For one, they are fighting the government over tougher quality ratings that are creating headwinds for profits at a time when health care costs for premium members are rising.

This creates a second headache: the free-for-all between the MA giants and the hospitals, which are the source of much of the high spending.

UnitedHealth Group is fighting on two fronts, suing the government over a downgrade of its program’s star quality rating while raising red flags about hospitals “aggressively” upgrading patients and thereby raising health care costs.

On their respective earnings calls, hospital operators Community Health, HCA and Tenet Health all addressed what they called more “aggressive” rejections by some payers.

Rate negotiations are now so intense that more hospitals are threatening not to accept certain carriers’ Medicare Advantage plans.

With more than half of seniors now on private Medicare Advantage plans, this aggressive trend could cause increasing disruption to their insurance cover.

Please feel free to send Bertha any tips, suggestions, story ideas and data: bertha.coombs@nbcuni.com.

The Latest in Healthcare Technology: Transforming Healthcare Vulnerabilities Affecting At least 100 Million Americans

Change Healthcare, a unit of UnitedHealth Group, broke a grim record last week: It officially suffered the largest healthcare data breach ever reported by federal regulators.

At least 100 million Americans were affected by the Change Healthcare cyberattack, according to a report updated numbers Post to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights’ Violation Portal. The previous record was set by Anthem in 2015, when hackers exposed the data of 78.8 million patients.

That number is roughly consistent with estimates UnitedHealth CEO Andrew Witty shared with lawmakers in May, when he guessed about one-third of Americans were affected. The company starts mailing written notice Available to affected individuals in late July.

Change Healthcare provides payment and revenue cycle management tools to healthcare providers and payers, as well as other solutions such as e-prescribing software. In February of this year, UnitedHealth disclosed that a cyber threat actor had compromised part of the company’s information technology network.

When the threat was detected, UnitedHealth severed connections to the affected systems, an outage that caused ripple effects across the U.S. healthcare industry. Many doctors are temporarily unable to fill prescriptions or get paid for their services, and some providers are dipping into thousands of dollars from their savings to stay afloat.

In the months following the incident, UnitedHealth paid $22 million in ransom to hackers in an effort to bring systems back online and confirmed that files containing personal information were compromised in the attack.

According to UnitedHealth’s website, the specific types of data exposed in the breach vary from person to person. This means patient contact information, health insurance information, medical records, billing and payment information may all be accessed.

UnitedHealth is offering two years of free credit monitoring for identity theft protection to individuals who believe they have been affected. The company said patients can contact a dedicated call center to inquire about the products or speak with a clinician who can provide emotional support services.

Patients should also watch for suspicious activity on tax returns, benefit explanations, and bank and credit card statements, according to the UnitedHealth Group website.