Weight Loss Drug Wegovy Can Also Reduce Risk of Serious Heart Events, Study Shows

Popular weight loss drugs have dominated news headlines and social media, mostly for their ability to help people shed pounds and control diabetes. But now there is evidence that one of the drugs, semaglutide, can also help reduce the risk of dying from heart disease in some patients. The drug semaglutide is sold under the brand names Wegovy, Ozempic, and Rybelsus. This trial, however, only studied the effects of Wegovy, which is semaglutide at 2.4mg in injectable form, and currently approved for weight management. The results of a much-anticipated study, sponsored by semaglutide’s maker Novo Nordisk, investigating the drug’s effects on the heart were presented at the annual meeting of the American Heart Association in Philadelphia and published in the New England Journal of Medicine. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] The study involved more than 17,000 people without diabetes but with a history of heart attack, stroke, or circulatory symptoms, who were also overweight or obese, with a body mass index of 27 or greater. Because they had a history of heart issues, most were on medications to treat risk factors like high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and clotting. To learn what effect losing weight could have on reducing the risk of dying from heart disease—on top of controlling those risk factors—the researchers randomly assigned half of the volunteers to receive the drug semaglutide, which was approved in 2021 to treat people who are ...
Source: TIME: Health - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized healthscienceclimate Source Type: news