Medications like Ozempic and Wegovy, which are used to treat type 2 diabetes and boost weight loss, may also help reduce knee osteoarthritis-related pain in people with obesity, a trial finds.

“There are genetic aspects, physical aspects, and inflammatory aspects,” he says. Ozempic can help people to lose weight, which addresses the physical link between obesity and osteoarthritis, but it may also help to tamp down on bodily inflammation, Dr. Mandelbaum says.

Recent research has found that semaglutide injections, which also include controversial weight loss drug Ozempic, can reduce knee pain caused by obesity-related arthritis.

Osteoarthritis, the most common form of arthritis, is primarily caused by wear and tear on the protective layer of cartilage on the ends of our bones.

The study funded by Novo Nordisk, the manufacturer of Ozempic and Wegovy, involved 407 participants taking either the active ingredient semaglutide or a placebo for 68 weeks. Roughly 82 percent of participants were women. To measure pain, researchers used ...