The Food and Drug Administration on Friday approved Eli Lilly’s anti-obesity drug Zepbound as the first prescription medicine for obstructive sleep apnea, marking a major shift in the treatment of the disorder. 

Zepbound, similar to Novo Nordisk’s anti-obesity and diabetes medication Ozempic, was approved to treat obstructive sleep apnea, or OSA, in patients with obesity and should be used in conjunction with increased physical activity and a reduced-calorie diet.

“Today, many cases of OSA go undiagnosed and untreated, leaving millions at risk for serious health consequences,” said Patrik Jonsson, president of Eli Lilly’s cardiometabolic health division, in a press statement. “Zepbound is the first medication that significantly improves moderate-to-severe OSA and aids in long-term weight loss in adults with obesity.”

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OSA occurs when a patient’s airway is blocked while sleeping, preventing the person from breathing and causing a drop in blood-oxygen levels. These apneic episodes trigger a “survival reflex” in the brain to wake the patient enough to breathe in an emergency. 

According to Johns Hopkins Medicine, between five and 15 apneic episodes per hour constitutes mild OSA, while more than 15 is moderate and more than 30 is severe.

In June, two separate clinical trials were published in the New England Journal of Medicine, revealing that Zepbound entirely eliminated OSA symptoms in 43% and 51% of patients, respectively. 

Sally Seymour, director of the pulmonology division of the FDA’s drug evaluation center, called Friday’s approval “a major step forward for patients with obstructive sleep apnea.”

As many as 30 million people in the US are affected by OSA, but the disorder is significantly underdiagnosed according to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. 

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Both obesity and Type 2 diabetes are comorbidities for the disorder, as is a larger neck circumference size.

“Too often, OSA is brushed off as ‘just snoring’ — but it’s far more than that,” said Julie Flygare, president of the nonprofit sleep health organization Project Sleep, in Lilly’s press statement. “It’s important to understand OSA symptoms and know that treatments are available, including new options like Zepbound.”