On December 20, 2024, pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly announced that the FDA approved its first and only obstructive sleep apnea medication.
Zepbound or Tirzepatide is an injectable drug that the company designed as an obesity treatment.
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The Food and Drug Administration, however, approved it for this health condition due to the results of the SURMOUNT-OSA phase 3 clinical trials.
How does this sleep apnea treatment work?
The FDA explains that Tirzepatide works by activating receptors of hormones from the intestine.
Consequently, the drug reduces body weight, which improves obstructive sleep apnea (OSA).
The clinical trials show that Zepbound reduced breathing disruptions by 25 to 29 per hour instead of five to six with a placebo.
It mitigated symptoms for 50% of participants who undergo PAP or Positive Airway Pressure) and for 42% of non-PAP patients.
Moreover, those who took Zepbound lost 18% to 20% or 45 lbs to 50 lbs in body weight.
Dan Skovronsky, Eli Lilly’s chief scientific officer, lauded the results in a TIME report:
“This is the first pharmacologic therapy that can treat obstructive sleep apnea in this way,” Skovronsky said.
“Obstructive sleep apnea is still poorly diagnosed. But this is a disease that itself carries cardiovascular risk, as does obesity, so it’s great to treat both.”
“We… have proven that when you treat with Tirzepatide, you remove some fat and the airway can stay open,” he added.
Cleveland Clinic explains obstructive sleep apnea blocks a person’s airway and restricts oxygen flow.
In response, the person’s survival reflex wakes them to resume breathing.
“Too often, obstructive sleep apnea is brushed off as ‘just snoring’ – but it’s far more than that,” Project Sleep CEO Julie Flygare told Reuters.
Aside from loud sleep, it could cause fatigue, mood changes, insomnia, headaches, and other health complications.
TIME says this sleep apnea and obesity treatment showed the potential to mitigate heart failure and kidney disease in Lilly’s other studies.