Ozempic and Wegovy-like drugs may help relieve depression, a study in mice suggests.
Researchers found that dulaglutide – which mimics the same GLP-1 hormone as Ozempic – acted on 64 different substances in the body.
These drugs have previously been linked to mental health benefits, including a mental boost from the weight loss they cause.
The results come despite concerns about the link between the drugs and suicidal thoughts, with European countries opening an investigation into the suggestions.
But this has yet to be addressed, with manufacturers pointing to many cases of patients saying their mental health improved while taking the drugs.
An FDA study published in January found no preliminary link between Ozempic thoughts and suicidal thoughts.
Patients taking semaglutide and saying it has improved their mental health include Emmalea Zummo, 18, from Pennsylvania (left) and Kaela Beasley, in Minnesota
Novo Nordisk, manufacturer of Ozempic, says in its warning leaflet that patients taking the drug may also experience suicidal thoughts
The researchers from China wrote in the paper: ‘The antidepressant effects of dulaglutide in a depression model were confirmed.
‘These primary data provide a new perspective for understanding the antidepressant-like effects of dulaglutide and may facilitate the use of dulaglutide as a potential therapeutic strategy for depression.’
Dulaglutide is used in the drug Trulicity, made by Eli Lilly, which is available by prescription for patients with type 2 diabetes.
Patients taking the drug lost an average of 10 pounds within 52 weeks, studies suggest. By comparison, those who take semaglutide lose 33 pounds in 68 weeks, according to studies.
In the newspaper, published today in the magazine Brain and behaviorscientists studied sixty mice, all of which were seven weeks old.
The rodents were divided into four equal groups, leaving one group as a control while the other three were exposed to daily stress.
Two of the three stress-exposed groups also received twice-weekly injections of dulaglutide in doses of 0.3 and 0.6 milligrams (mg).
For four weeks, the mice were then exposed to at least two environmental stressors per day, including no food or water for 12 hours, their cage tilted for 24 hours, and wet bedding for 24 hours.
All mice were then subjected to three tests to monitor their stress levels.
In the first, they were placed in the middle of a field and monitored for five minutes. They were also forced to swim in open water for six minutes and hang by their tails for six minutes.
Scientists said the mice that moved the least during these tests were the most likely to be depressed.
The results showed that the mice that were not exposed to any stress for four weeks were the most exercised and the least likely to be depressed.
They were followed by the two groups of mice that were given dulaglutide.
The mice that had not had dulaglutide but had experienced stress exercised the least, showing that they were most likely to be depressed.
The study results will now need to be repeated in other animals, including primates and humans, to prove that dulaglutide can reduce depression.
Scientists say it’s possible that drugs like Ozempic could actually ease feelings of depression (stock image)
Pictured above are two patients who reported low mood during treatment with Ozempic or a similar drug using semaglutide. The patient on the left said she felt “like shit” after three weeks of taking the drug, while the patient on the right said, “Sometimes being skinny isn’t worth being sad.”
But the scientists from Hebei Medical University argued that their results showed that GLP-1 drugs can have an antidepressant effect.
People who previously reported antidepressant effects while taking the drugs include Emmalea Zummo, a 17-year-old from western Pennsylvania.
She lost more than 30kg while taking semaglutide, with her weight dropping from 250 to about 180kg in 68 weeks. But in addition to losing weight, she also said her depression subsided.
She said NBC News: ‘I was diagnosed with depression because of my weight.
‘(But) already at the first appointment, when they explained what the medicines were, I already felt mentally lighter.’
She added that she was “very happy with” the weight loss, adding: “I felt better about myself, which is something I’ve never felt before.”
Another patient who said the drug helped her depression is Kaela Beasley, who lost 70 pounds after nine months of Wegovy.
“I had a very bad relationship with food, was on medication for depression and was just plain unhappy (before losing weight),” she said online.
‘(But now) I’ve changed my eating habits, stayed consistent with therapy, exercise a lot more and really wake up and try to be a better version of myself every day.
“If you’re mentally struggling with everything and making extremely unhealthy food choices, it’s okay to seek help.”
Doctors say the drugs can indirectly help relieve depression because of the weight loss they cause, making people happier about themselves.
But others have warned that they can also have the opposite effect by overriding a person’s coping mechanism with stress – food.
A number of patients have reported that they began to feel depressed and suicidal while taking the medications.
Wegovy also includes a warning on the label that a possible side effect of the drug could be depression.
Scientists are analyzing a number of pathways in the brain to determine how weight loss drugs can help alleviate depression.