November 13, 2023 – People with heart disease who took the weight-loss drug Wegovy had a significantly lower risk of getting a heart attack or stroke, results of a highly anticipated study show.
Participants within the study took the drug – which comprises the identical lively ingredient because the diabetes drug Ozempic – for a median of virtually three years and were followed for a complete of 5 years. During that point, 6.5% of people that took Wegovy suffered a significant cardiac event or died from heart disease, in comparison with 8% of individuals within the study who took a placebo. The difference corresponds to a 20% reduced risk of heart attack, stroke or death from heart disease.
The results were published Saturday in The New England Journal of Medicineand concurrently presented at a medical conference in Philadelphia to a standing-room-only audience. The New YorkJust reported. The study involved 17,604 people aged 45 and over who had heart disease and were chubby or obese but didn’t have diabetes. The average starting weight of study participants was about 212 kilos.
People who took Wegovy lost about 9% of their body weight on average and in addition made progress in other areas of health, corresponding to lowering cholesterol and blood pressure. People who received the placebo treatment lost, on average, slightly below 1% of their body weight.
More than 16% of people that took Wegovy dropped out of the study early attributable to opposed events, in comparison with 8% of people that took the placebo treatment.
An assistant professor of cardiology at Yale School of Medicine called it “one of the most anticipated studies of the last 10 years” and noted that statins are the one other drugs that reduce heart and blood vessel risk as much in individuals with heart disease would have.
“The acceptance of this drug will skyrocket in the next few years,” said Yuan Lu, ScD, who was not involved within the study Just.
The results are so necessary that treatment with Wegovy “could become a new best practice,” Clyde Yancey, MD, MSc, chief of cardiology at Northwestern Medicine, told the newspaper. . He was also not involved within the study.
The research didn't show why the drug improved heart health, corresponding to attributable to weight reduction itself or other changes within the body. In addition to being linked to chubby and obesity, heart problems are also linked to physical inactivity, eating regimen, sleep, cholesterol, diabetes and hypertension.
Drug maker Novo Nordisk said in a Press release that the corporate had applied to drug regulators within the US and Europe for approval of the drug to scale back the danger of heart problems in chubby and obese people. Analysts imagine the drug's likelihood of being covered by approval may very well be greater than before, several media outlets have reported.