By Deena Beasley and Julie Steenhuysen

(Reuters) -Studies from Novo Nordisk due early next month will give the strongest indication yet of whether blockbuster GLP-1 drugs – a class being used by millions for diabetes and weight loss – can slow progress of Alzheimer’s disease.

Two trials, described by Novo as a “lottery ticket,” are testing its older diabetes pill Rybelsus that has the same active ingredient – semaglutide – as Ozempic and Wegovy in thousands of people with mild Alzheimer’s. The goal is to decrease patients’ rate of cognitive decline by at least 20%.

Alzheimer’s experts say success would usher in a convenient new treatment to slow progression of the mind-robbing disease defined by toxic amyloid plaques in the brain that affects 50 million people globally.

Regardless of t

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