STAT+: Can Wegovy treat depression as well as obesity? New research looks to GLP-1 drugs for mental illnesses
The memory and focus problems common to depression, researchers hope, may be alleviated by GLP-1 drugs like Wegovy. "It's a really exciting time," one said.
Drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy — already game changers for diabetes and obesity — are being studied to treat an entirely different growing health problem: mental health illnesses, including depression and bipolar disorder.
Early data and anecdotes suggest that this class of GLP-1 drugs could help patients feel less depressed and anxious. The treatment may also fight the decline in cognitive and executive function that many people with mental health disorders experience, like worsening memory and losing the ability to focus and plan.
If further research yields positive results, it could drive even more demand for the highly popular GLP-1 treatments, which have increasingly been shown to help with problems across the body, such as heart and kidney complications. And especially if the cognitive benefits are proven out, the GLP-1 drugs would plug a critical gap in current treatments for depression, since most depression drugs help with mood, but close to none address cognitive symptoms that affect memory and attention.
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