Having become popular with both celebrities and investors, diabetes drugs that also promote weight loss, such as Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic, are now being studied to tackle some of the most difficult-to-treat brain disorders, including Alzheimer’s disease.
Diabetes regimens, from Ozempic to old mainstays like insulin and metformin, appear to address several different aspects of the metabolic system implicated in Alzheimer's disease, including a protein called amyloid and inflammation, researchers say.
The hope is that improving glucose use and tamping down inflammation in the entire body — including the brain — could slow progression of debilitating diseases like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.