A brand new examine has proven that the favored GLP-1 weight reduction drug semaglutide has the facility to halt, and to some extent restore, cartilage in individuals affected by osteoarthritis (OA). The discovering hints at a doable use of the drug past weight reduction.
In 2017, America’s Meals and Drug Administration authorized the drug semaglutide for treating diabetes. In 2021 the FDA additionally authorized it as a weight reduction support. Since then, some research have hinted that the drug – offered popularly as Ozempic, Wegovy, and Rybelsus – may need effectiveness treating quite a lot of different situations.
For instance, the FLOW trial in 2024 confirmed that the drug reduced the risk of kidney failure and death from cardiovascular causes in sufferers with kind 2 diabetes and continual kidney illness. One other 2024 examine confirmed that the drug positively impacted motor activity in Parkinson’s patients and helped keep off mind shrinkage and cognitive decline in Alzheimer’s sufferers, though a follow-up examine has brought these results into question.
Now, researchers from China have carried out a examine that exhibits one other doable off-label use of semaglutide: arthritis prevention.
Within the examine, which used each people and mice, the analysis group first divided overweight rodents with arthritis into two teams. One group was given semaglutide, which decreased their appetites. The second group was not given the drug, however was fed precisely the identical quantity of meals eaten by the semaglutide group. This prompted the mice in each teams to lose the identical quantity of weight. It additionally allowed the researchers to check for the drug’s impact past weight reduction.
The group discovered that solely the mice on semaglutide confirmed decreased cartilage breakdown in addition to a discount in bone spurs, joint irritation, and ache – a discovering that demonstrated that the results had been probably because of the drug itself, not the accompanying weight reduction.
Human advantages
For the human portion of the trial, the group cut up 20 overweight individuals affected by knee arthritis into two teams. One group was given solely hyaluronic acid injections, a standard remedy to lubricate the joints in individuals with OA. The opposite group was given the hyaluronic injections in addition to semaglutide. On the finish of 24 weeks the researchers discovered that solely the individuals within the semaglutide group reported higher bodily perform scores and a couple of 17% improve in cartilage thickness.
The researchers themselves level out that the human trial right here is an especially small examine. There was additionally no management for weight reduction, as there was within the mice examine. Actually, these on semaglutide within the human trial noticed about an 8% lower in BMI whereas these not on the drug had primarily no change in weight. Nonetheless, the examine exhibits that exploring semaglutide as a strategy to fight OA and doubtlessly regrow cartilage is a worthwhile endeavor.
Monash College’s Flavia Cicuttini, who was not concerned with the examine, however was a part of a group that carried out a systematic review of GLP-1’s effect on OA in 2025, agrees with this cautious analysis of outcomes and factors out a doable mechanism by which these medicine are exhibiting their results.
“That is sophisticated to unravel as a result of we all know that situations comparable to knee osteoarthritis are complicated,” Cicuttini instructed Refractor. “There are completely different drivers of illness. Weight problems associated knee OA is a standard one. We all know that weight problems does not simply have an effect on the joint by means of biomechanical elements and loading, but additionally metabolically pushed irritation. Medicine initially developed to focus on diabetes such because the GLP-1 and in addition metformin end in weight reduction, and each courses of medicine have an effect on the metabolism of cells and within the case of metformin, metabolically pushed irritation.”
Along with the potential anti-inflammatory impacts of GLP-1 medicine, the researchers consider the affect they noticed on cartilage regrowth has to do with a chemical chain response that boosted the best way cartilage cells produce vitality and gave them the facility to provoke a restore sequence. The discovering that GLP-1s is perhaps essentially altering how cells produce vitality provides to our understanding of, and potential use for, the medicine going ahead.
“Vitality regulation governs each stage of life, from development and growth to growing older and illness,” conclude the researchers of their examine, which has been printed within the journal, Cell Metabolism. “Following Schrödinger’s idea of unfavourable entropy, dwelling methods extract and handle vitality to keep up order and counteract entropy-driven decay. Intricate regulation of vitality metabolism … is important for sustaining well being and longevity. GLP-1R agonists, by fine-tuning vitality metabolism, could exert system-wide advantages past glucose regulation. This metabolic precision may clarify their promising results in various ailments, together with OA.”
