Semaglutide Linked to 40% Fewer Asthma Attacks — SkimNews
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- Semaglutide was associated with nearly a 40% reduction in asthma attacks and a 20% reduction in COPD flare-ups in a real-world UK study of patients with airway diseases.
- Professor Chloe Bloom of Imperial College London led four parallel analyses of electronic health records, each covering 20,000–22,000 patients who started either a GLP-1 drug or a sulfonylurea.
- Among the GLP-1 drugs examined, semaglutide showed the strongest respiratory effect, particularly for asthma, according to findings presented by Dr. Bohee Lee at the ERS Congress in Barcelona.
- Bloom cautioned that the results are encouraging but should not change prescribing — patients should not start GLP-1 agonists specifically for lung conditions outside current guidance without clinical trial confirmation.
- Dr. Alexander Mathioudakis of the University of Manchester, not involved in the research, called it one of the largest real-world GLP-1/airways disease studies and said it supports adding respiratory outcomes to future metabolic therapy trials.
Why it matters: For patients with asthma or COPD who already qualify for GLP-1 drugs because of obesity or type 2 diabetes, the findings hint at a possible secondary benefit — but researchers stress the data are observational and require clinical trial confirmation before any prescribing change.
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