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Ozempic Approved By FDA For Chronic Kidney Disease Treatment

by THEFUTURE.TEAM

January 29, 2025

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Ozempic for the treatment of patients with chronic kidney disease, marking a new milestone for Novo Nordisk’s highly popular drug, previously authorized for type 2 diabetes and weight loss.

Key Facts

The FDA approval allows Ozempic to be used to reduce the risk of kidney disease progression, kidney failure, and death from cardiovascular events in patients with type 2 diabetes and chronic kidney disease.
The approval is based on a late-stage trial involving more than 3,500 participants, which showed that Ozempic lowered the risk of kidney disease progression and death from kidney or cardiovascular complications by 24% compared to a placebo.
Patients using Ozempic also experienced slower rates of kidney decline, according to Novo Nordisk.

In December 2024, the European Union’s health regulators also gave the go-ahead for Novo Nordisk to expand Ozempic’s label, indicating that the drug could reduce the risk of chronic kidney disease-related events in adults with type 2 diabetes.

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Surprising Fact

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that one in every three adults with diabetes suffers from chronic kidney disease. Diabetes, both type 1 and type 2, can impair kidney function due to its effects on the kidneys’ ability to filter waste, compounded by the high blood pressure that often accompanies the condition.

What Has Ozempic Been Approved For?

Ozempic has already been approved by the FDA for type 2 diabetes management, and it’s also widely used off-label for weight loss. Additionally, the FDA authorized Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy—which contains the same active ingredient, semaglutide—for weight loss and lowering the risk of cardiovascular events, such as heart attacks and strokes.

Key Background

Ozempic and Wegovy are part of the GLP-1 agonist class of medications, which mimic the function of a gut hormone responsible for regulating blood sugar and appetite. Research into the broader benefits of these drugs has been growing. For example, Eli Lilly’s Zepbound, a competitor, was recently approved for treating obesity and sleep apnea, after it was shown to significantly reduce apnea events in a clinical trial.

Other studies suggest GLP-1 drugs might also have potential applications in treating alcohol use disorder and improving mood, cognitive function, and symptoms in patients with conditions like Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, dementia, bipolar disorder, and anxiety.

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Only 1% Of Cyprus Farms Use Precision Farming Technologies

Cyprus remains one of the European Union’s least digitised agricultural economies, with just 1% of farms using precision farming technologies in 2023, according to Eurostat.

The findings come as the EU continues to encourage the adoption of digital tools aimed at improving agricultural productivity, efficiency and sustainability.

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Internet Access Expands, But Digital Uptake Lags

Internet access has improved across the bloc, although adoption remains uneven. Eurostat found that 43% of EU farms had internet access in 2023, with northern and central European countries leading the way.

Denmark, Germany, Slovakia, Latvia, the Czech Republic and Austria all reported internet access rates above 90%.

Greater connectivity, however, has not translated into widespread digital adoption. Farm management information systems, which help farmers manage day-to-day operations, were used by only about 11% of EU farms. France was a notable exception, with around 60% of farms using the technology.

Precision Farming Concentrated In Larger Operations

Robotics adoption also remained relatively limited, with only about 7% of EU farms using robotic technologies. Overall, around 18% of farms with utilised agricultural area employed at least one precision farming technology or practice in 2023.

These included robotics for plant protection, band spraying, variable-rate application, precision crop monitoring and soil analysis. Despite representing fewer than one in five farms, these holdings accounted for around 44% of the EU’s utilised agricultural area.

The figures suggest that precision farming remains concentrated among larger agricultural businesses, where investment in digital technologies is typically easier to support.

Cyprus Lags Behind EU Leaders

Luxembourg, Finland and Estonia recorded the highest shares of utilised agricultural area managed by farms using precision farming technologies, each exceeding 75%.

At the other end of the ranking, Cyprus recorded just 1%, while Greece and Romania reported between 10% and 15%. The results indicate that Cyprus remains at an early stage of digital adoption in agriculture, even as precision farming becomes more widespread across parts of the European Union.