For GPs, solutions for treating osteoarthritis are frustratingly limited – it’s like the weather, everyone talks about it but nobody does anything about it. While standard care can relieve symptoms, there is currently no way to regenerate the actual lost cartilage in the joints. Some experimental treatments have proven successful in animal models and in petri dishes, but those are still many years away from being approved and available on the market.
But what if there was a currently available drug that could be repurposed? Since overweight and obesity worsen osteoarthritis symptoms by placing excess strain on weight-bearing joints, GLP-1 agonists such as semaglutide have proven that they can help by promoting rapid weight loss, as demonstrated by the STEP-9 trial.
Research into GLP-1s has now revealed that they may offer a whole constellation of other benefits, such as a potential reduction in stroke risk. Now, it appears that GLP-1 agonists may have a direct effect on osteoarthritis independent of weight loss. In our podcast, we look at a recently published article in Cell Metabolism that suggests that GLP-1 agonists might go beyond just the weight loss – promote actual cartilage regrowth by jumpstarting the joint cells’ energy processing pathways. We also explore some of the caveats of potentially using GLP-1 agonists in this way, such as a lack of understanding of the long term effects, as well as the well-documented occurrence of muscle loss.
