New studies reveal rare but real risk of GLP-1 drugs

July 22 (Reuters) – The risk ‌of hair loss in patients taking GLP-1 drugs for obesity or diabetes, while low, is higher than with other diabetes drugs, new studies suggest.At two or more years after starting treatment, the odds of a new diagnosis of alopecia in GLP-1 ​users were 37 percent higher than in users of so-called SGLT-2 drugs and 68 percent higher versus ​DPP-4 drugs, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania reported on Wednesday in The BMJ.Actual rates ⁠of alopecia were low, ranging from roughly three to nine per 1,000 people per year, with between ​11,000 and 15,000 people in each drug-class group.GLP-1 drugs in the study included semaglutide, sold by Novo Nordisk ​as Wegovy and Ozempic; tirzepatide, sold by Eli Lilly as Zepbound and Mounjaro; and older drugs in the class.SGLT-2 drugs included Johnson & Johnson’s Invokana, AstraZeneca’s Farxiga, and Jardiance from Boehringer Ingelheim and Eli Lilly.DPP-4 inhibitors included Merck’s Januvia and AstraZeneca’s ​Onglyza.A separate recent study in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, with more than one million ​participants worldwide, found significantly higher risks of various subtypes of alopecia with GLP-1 drugs than with the commonly used diabetes ‌drug metformin.A third new study suggests GLP-1 users face higher alopecia odds with tirzepatide than with semaglutide.Researchers at Cambridge, Massachusetts-based analytics firm nference compared 11,046 patients taking tirzepatide with the same number taking semaglutide.

Rates of new-onset alopecia were 4.24 percent with tirzepatide and 3.33 percent with semaglutide, according to a preprint submitted for peer review.In female ​users of GLP-1 drugs, those ​rates were 5.44 percent with ⁠tirzepatide versus 3.63 percent with semaglutide, the researchers said.All three papers say that hair loss often accompanies weight loss and is often reversible.Stay up on the very latest with Evening Update...