GLP-1 Drug Exenatide Shows No Benefit for Parkinson's in New Study

GLP-1 Drug Exenatide Shows No Benefit for Parkinson's in New Study

The GLP-1 drug, exenatide, has no positive impact on the movement, symptoms or brain imaging of people with Parkinson's, a new study led by UCL researchers finds.

The world's largest and longest trial of exenatide in people with Parkinson's disease was funded by the National Institute for Health & Care Research (NIHR), with support from sub-studies from Cure Parkinson and Van Andel Institute.

For her research, published inThe Lancet,The team designed a phase 3 randomized controlled trial to determine whether the use of exenatide was associated with benefit in people with Parkinson's disease and whether it resulted in a slower rate of progression of the disease, after smaller studies suggested the drug might be helpful.

194 people with Parkinson's disease took part in the study at six research hospitals in the UK, including London, Oxford, Plymouth, Salford and Edinburgh. They used either weekly exenatide injections or a visually identical placebo.

The trial lasted 96 weeks and was double-blind, meaning neither the participants nor the researchers knew who was receiving the actual treatment or the placebo.

At the end of the study period, researchers found that there was no benefit in the exenatide group over 96 weeks. No benefits were demonstrated in the objective examination of patients' movements, their own reports of symptom severity, or in imaging terms.

The results of this study have been highly anticipated, and the negative results will be a great disappointment to patients affected by Parkinson's disease and the Parkinson's disease research community. “

Thomas Phultynie, lead author, Professor of the UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology

GLP-1 drugs – such as semaglutide (WegVy) and Ozempic – have become increasingly popular in recent years, and there has been enormous interest in their potential health benefits.

Older members of the drug class - such as exenatide and lixisenatide - have been shown to be able to penetrate the brain, and previous small studies have suggested potential benefits for people with Parkinson's disease.

Professor Foltynie added: "It is not yet clear whether there may be a subgroup of people with Parkinson's disease who may benefit from the use of exenatide. We will continue to examine the data to see whether abnormal diabetes 'could predict a better response to exenatide and whether there were more of these people in the earlier, smaller trials in which we found positive overall effects.' found. “

The study was supported by the UCL Comprehensive Clinical Studies Unit (UCL CCTU), the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), the UCLH Biomedical Research Center and the NIHR UCLH Clinical Research Facility. The trial took place at the UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology and the UCLH National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery.

There was a high level of participant retention throughout the trial and the research team confirmed high levels of medication adherence through the use of blood tests that screen for exclusion of exenatide, so there can be a high level of confidence in the results.

Article revisions

• 7. Februar 2025 – Entfernung von Faktenfehlern.

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