Semaglutide-based drugs have quickly become established as treatments for obesity and diabetes, even as signs have emerged that their appetite-suppressing effect can sometimes lead to malnutrition, and even hair loss.<\/p>\n
But in a potential welcome\u00a0side effect, semaglutide \u2013 a glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) \u2013 may also provide protection against asthma, according to Imperial College London (ICL) scientists who spoke at the European Respiratory Society (ERS) Congress held on Sept 5-9 (2026) in Barcelona, Spain.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople with airway diseases like asthma and COPD [chronic obstructive pulmonary disease] who were prescribed GLP-1 therapies appeared to have fewer asthma attacks and COPD flare-ups than similar people who were prescribed other diabetes medicines,\u201d the researchers said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe effect was strongest with semaglutide, especially in people with asthma, where use of semaglutide appears to be associated with nearly 40% reduction in asthma attacks,\u201d explained study lead investigator and ICL National Heart and Lung Institute clinical associate professor in respiratory epidemiology Dr Chloe Bloom.<\/p>\n
Assoc Prof Bloom and her colleagues picked through British electronic medical records for around 20,000 people to carry out four parallel studies based on whether patients were taking a GLP-1 treatment or sulphonylureas, another diabetes medication.<\/p>\n
The research does not mean that people with asthma or other breathing problems should start taking weight loss drugs, however.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need clinical trials that include respiratory outcomes, such as asthma attacks, COPD exacerbations, lung function, symptoms and quality of life, to determine whether metabolic treatments could become part of a broader, more personalised approach to managing airways disease,\u201d said Dr Alexander Mathioudakis, who chairs the ERS\u00a0Group on Airway Pharmacology and Treatment, and who was not involved in the study. \u2013 dpa<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Semaglutide-based drugs have quickly become established as treatments for obesity and diabetes, even as signs have emerged that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":781189,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[8406,2505,18381,102,6591,33239,56,54,55,7268],"class_list":["post-781188","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-medication","tag-asthma","tag-drugs","tag-glp-1-receptor-agonists","tag-health","tag-medication","tag-respiratory-diseases","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-wellness"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/781188","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=781188"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/781188\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/781189"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=781188"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=781188"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=781188"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}