Novo Nordisk, the manufacturer behind Ozempic and Wegovy, has another weight loss medication in the works — but according to its trial results, it has some pretty grim side effects.
As Fierce Biotech reports, Novo's new experimental obesity injectable, a cannabinoid receptor-1 (CB1) drug called monlunabant, was shown in a modestly-sized phase 2 trial to increase the risk of psychiatric disorders.
"Reporting of mild to moderate neuropsychiatric side effects, primarily anxiety, irritability, and sleep disturbances, was more frequent and dose-dependent with monlunabant compared to placebo," the Danish pharmaceutical giant conceded in a press release.
Unlike glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptors, the class of drugs to which Ozempic and Wegovy belong, CB1 receptors work on the brain and not the gut. The "cannabis" derivative in its name relates to the so-called "cannabinoid system" in our brains which essentially acts as dopamine traffic lights to tell neurotransmitters what to do with hunger and other feelings related to the pleasure hormone.
Though the drugs' areas of operations are different, some of their side effects are similar.
Of the 243 people who took daily injections during the phase 2 monlunabant trial, which Novo undertook after buying the Canadian biopharma firm Inversago to acquire the drug, the most common effects of the drugs were gastrointestinal.
While Novo says that none of these side effects were "serious," Fierce Pharma notes that the reported instances of psychiatric events is reminiscent of an earlier CB1 drug called Acomplia that was pulled from European markets after only two years because it too was associated with mental health issues.
Semaglutide, the active ingredient in Novo's cornerstone drugs Ozempic and Wegovy, has also been linked to some scary mental health issues in the form of suicidal ideation, though other research has found the exact opposite: that people taking it are less likely to have suicidal thoughts. The Food and Drug Administration is now investigating
People interested in taking weight loss drugs, be they made by Novo Nordisk, Eli Lilly, or Kourtney Kardashian, should take these kinds of risks into account when deciding whether to take them.
While the hype surrounding this new class of obesity and diabetes treatments is very real, so are their side effects, which can include nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea even on the milder end of the adverse event spectrum.
More on drug candidacy: New Weight Loss Drug Has Small Problem: Uncontrollable Vomiting
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