Yes that interview and article posted by the lead investigator is probably the best summary I've seen so far.
https://www.hcplive.com/view/atul-malhotra-md-tirzepatide-for-obstructive-sleep-apnea-and-obesityUnfortuantely I can't access the full study without paying for it, which I'm not going to do.
Details on the study design can be seen here -
https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT05412004Of note is that the secondary outcome is measured by the change in AHI (Events where somebody suffocates per hour) below a certain level
which is technically considered "Cured". My reading of the result is that these changes are so large that simply using the Tirzepatide results in a "cured" status for Sleep Apnea. This is the main difference from previous studies.
However, this endpoint is not really recognised as being "cured" from a clinicians perspective. The reason is that the AHI simply measures the number of events, not the severity of the events or the length of the events. See below:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3917481/#:~:text=The%20apnea%2Dhypopnea%20index%20(AHI,%2Fhr)%20(1).
So imagine you have 2 events per hour, but those events are so extreme that you lose oxygen for 10 minutes per event. This may be far worse than somebody who has 20 events per hour, but they only last a few seconds.
It may be that GLP1's can reduce the number of events, and the severity to a degree, but not enough to actually cure the patient. The beauty of the CPAP device is that has shown to reduce severity, AHI and the length of the events, which is why it is considered the Gold standard.
As eluded to in the interview,
the outcome most clinicians are looking for is something that can both help cure obesity and sleep Apnea, because
independently there is no evidence that either of these treatments can do both properly. However, together it's likely they offer a solution to both issues. This is the real goal in my view, and would result in more people in the "Funnel" which RMD has spoken about in previous investor calls.
(20min delay)