A drug originally designed for diabetes now treats sleep apnea.
GLP-1 drugs generated over $40 billion in 2025 and are projected to reach $60 billion, driving pharmaceutical expansion into new therapeutic areas. Clinical trials are underway for alcohol dependence, Alzheimer's, kidney disease, liver disease, neurological disorders, and sleep apnea with varying success rates.
- GLP-1 drugs generated over $40 billion in 2025, projected to reach $60 billion
- Novo Nordisk testing semaglutide in 1,840 Alzheimer's patients; results expected by end of 2025
- Lilly's tirzepatide helped 74% of liver disease patients achieve disease resolution in intermediate trial
- Zepbound approved by FDA for obstructive sleep apnea in December 2024
- Novo's semaglutide backed by European Medicines Agency for heart failure in obese patients (September 2024)
Pharmaceutical companies are testing GLP-1 medications like Ozempic and Mounjaro for conditions beyond diabetes and weight loss, including Alzheimer's, heart disease, and liver disease, to expand market reach and insurance coverage.
The drugs that made headlines for helping people lose weight are now being tested for something far broader. Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro, and Zepbound—the GLP-1 medications that generated over $40 billion in sales last year and are projected to reach $60 billion in 2025—are moving into territory their makers never originally imagined. Pharmaceutical companies are running clinical trials to see whether these molecules, designed to regulate blood sugar and appetite, might also treat Alzheimer's disease, heart failure, liver disease, kidney disease, and even alcohol dependence. The logic is straightforward: if these drugs work, the market expands dramatically. Insurance coverage becomes easier to justify. Revenue streams multiply.
The economics are driving the push, but so is genuine scientific curiosity. Novo Nordisk is testing semaglutide—the active ingredient in Ozempic and Wegovy—in an advanced-stage trial involving 1,840 patients with early-stage Alzheimer's disease. Preliminary results could arrive by the end of this year. Separately, researchers at Copenhagen's Psychiatric Center are investigating whether the same drug might help reduce alcohol consumption in patients diagnosed with both alcohol use disorder and obesity, working with 108 participants. At Denmark's Headache Center, scientists are testing semaglutide combined with a very-low-calorie diet to treat idiopathic intracranial hypertension, a condition where pressure inside the skull rises dangerously—a study of about 50 patients expected to wrap up in October 2025.
Eli Lilly's tirzepatide, the active compound in Mounjaro and Zepbound, is being evaluated in intermediate-stage trials for chronic kidney disease and obesity, with plans to include up to 140 participants and results expected next year. The company had been testing tirzepatide in heart failure patients with obesity—roughly 700 people—but withdrew its U.S. approval request for that indication in May. The European Medicines Agency, however, backed Novo's semaglutide for easing heart failure symptoms in obese patients as recently as September 2024. For chronic kidney disease specifically, Novo's Ozempic already carries FDA approval to reduce the risk of kidney failure progression and death from heart problems in diabetic patients with the condition.
The liver disease work shows some of the most striking early results. In an intermediate-stage trial for nonalcoholic steatohepatitis—a common but difficult-to-treat form of fatty liver disease now also called metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease—Lilly's tirzepatide helped up to 74 percent of patients achieve disease resolution without worsening liver scarring over 52 weeks, compared to just 13 percent on placebo. Novo is running an advanced trial of semaglutide in roughly 1,200 patients with the same condition, with results not expected until April 2029.
One indication has already crossed the finish line. In December 2024, the FDA approved Zepbound for obstructive sleep apnea, making it the first medication to directly treat this common disorder, in which breathing repeatedly stops during sleep. The approval marked a significant moment: a drug originally developed for diabetes and weight loss now has a label for an entirely different disease category.
The competitive pressure is real. Novo Nordisk acknowledged this week that generic versions of its weight-loss medication entering the U.S. market, combined with Lilly's aggressive competition across multiple regions, will likely hurt Wegovy sales this year. That pressure is precisely what's driving the search for new uses. If a drug can treat Alzheimer's, or heart disease, or liver disease, the addressable market grows exponentially. Insurance companies become more willing to cover it. Patients who don't need weight loss but do need treatment for another condition become eligible. The pharmaceutical companies are betting that the molecules they've already developed and tested for safety can do more than they were originally designed to do. Whether that bet pays off—and whether it benefits patients or simply expands corporate reach—will become clearer as these trials produce results over the coming months and years.
Citações Notáveis
Novo Nordisk acknowledged that generic versions of its weight-loss medication entering the U.S. market, combined with Lilly's aggressive competition, will likely hurt Wegovy sales this year.— Novo Nordisk statement (July 29, 2025)
In an intermediate-stage trial for nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, Lilly's tirzepatide helped up to 74 percent of patients achieve disease resolution without worsening liver scarring over 52 weeks, compared to just 13 percent on placebo.— Clinical trial data cited by Folha de S.Paulo
A Conversa do Hearth Outra perspectiva sobre a história
Why are pharmaceutical companies suddenly interested in testing weight-loss drugs for Alzheimer's and heart disease? That seems like a stretch.
It's not really a stretch if you understand how the drugs work. GLP-1 medications don't just affect appetite—they influence inflammation, blood sugar regulation, and how cells respond to stress. Those mechanisms might matter for brain health, heart function, kidney disease. The companies are following the biology, not just chasing money.
But they're also chasing money, right? These drugs are already worth $40 billion a year.
Absolutely. But here's the thing: generic versions are entering the market. Competition from Lilly is fierce. If Novo and Lilly can get approval for Alzheimer's or heart failure, they're not just selling to people who want to lose weight anymore. They're selling to millions of diabetics, heart patients, people with liver disease. The market becomes much larger and much harder to compete away.
What's the evidence so far? Are these trials actually working?
Mixed. The liver disease results are genuinely impressive—74 percent of patients on tirzepatide saw their disease resolve. Ozempic already has FDA approval for kidney disease in diabetics. But Lilly pulled its heart failure application in May, which suggests that trial didn't go the way they hoped. Novo's Alzheimer's trial won't have results until late this year. It's still early.
If these drugs do work for all these conditions, what does that mean for patients?
It could mean a lot. Right now, many of these diseases—Alzheimer's, liver disease, heart failure—don't have great treatment options. If GLP-1 drugs help, that's genuinely valuable. But it also means these drugs become even more central to medicine, which raises questions about access, cost, and whether we're putting too much faith in one class of medication.
So we're watching this unfold in real time.
Exactly. The next 18 months will be crucial. Novo's Alzheimer's results, Lilly's kidney disease data, the liver disease trials—these will tell us whether this is real medicine or pharmaceutical optimism.