Good morning, folks! The Dean of Pharmalittle University, Ed Silverman, is out on vacation. I also recently went on a mini-vacation, traveling up to a lake house for fun with friends. I’ll be writing my “What I did on summer vacation” essay later this week. But first, the news. …
A new study suggests that an older GLP-1 drug may help protect the brains of people with early Alzheimer’s disease, supporting the case for further research on this class of medications in neurological diseases, STAT reports. The Phase 2 randomized trial tested Novo Nordisk’s liraglutide, the predecessor to Ozempic and Wegovy, in patients with early Alzheimer’s disease over one year. The study did not meet the primary endpoint of change on a measure of how much sugar the brain uses for energy, but it showed that patients on the drug had nearly 50% less shrinkage in parts of the brain that control memory and learning.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Tuesday it is funding a $5 million program to vaccinate livestock industry workers against seasonal flu in a bid to reduce the pandemic risk posed by the ongoing H5N1 bird flu outbreak in cattle, STAT says. The voluntary program is aimed at getting seasonal flu shots into as many people as possible who are working in proximity to animals — poultry, cows, or other livestock — to prevent co-infection that could enable H5N1 to become more of a threat to humans.
