Obesity drug slashes risk of heart attack or stroke 'regardless of weight lost’

For a period of five years, researchers looked into the possibility of using semaglutide, a medication that goes by the names Ozempic, Wegovy, and Rybelsus, to lower the likelihood of heart attacks or strokes in individuals who are overweight but do not have diabetes.

According to research conducted by Novo Nordisk, a pharmaceutical company, the use of GLP-1 treatments may have additional benefits beyond just reducing weight.

The study on the medication is the biggest investigation conducted up to this point, enlisting 17,604 participants who are 45 years old and above from a total of 41 countries.

After 20 weeks of taking semaglutide, a high percentage of 62% of patients encountered a reduction of more than 5% of their body weight. This figure is in contrast to the placebo group, where only 10% of patients depleted their weight.

Interestingly, the level of reduction in the chance of encountering heart attacks, strokes, or heart failure did not vary between individuals who lost more than 5% of their body weight and those who lost less weight.

The research group at University College London (UCL), headed by Professor John Deanfield, has discovered some valuable clinical implications from their findings.

The research indicates that semaglutide's positive impact on cardiovascular risks is not influenced by the degree of weight reduction. This implies that the medication has additional properties that decrease the likelihood of heart disease, which are not linked to shedding excess body weight." The scientist commented.

Other mechanisms apart from the usual ones can have a beneficial impact on blood sugar, blood pressure or inflammation. These mechanisms can also have a direct effect on the heart muscle and blood vessels, or even a combination of multiple effects.

During the month of August, scientists who participated in the Select study found out that semaglutide lowered the chances of heart attack or stroke by 20% in people who are obese and have cardiovascular disease.

At the European Congress on Obesity (ECO) in Venice, there will be two studies presented from the Select trial. One of these studies is from Professor Deanfield and the other one is led by Professor Donna Ryan. Professor Deanfield's study is about semaglutide and will be presented at ECO. Meanwhile, Professor Donna Ryan's study is focused on the long-lasting effects of semaglutide on weight loss.

According to Ryan's research findings, grownups who are overweight or obese and don't have diabetes can successfully keep off the lost weight using semaglutide for up to four years.

Moreover, individuals who received semaglutide encountered an average decrease of 10.2% in their overall body weight along with a 7.7cm reduction in waist circumference. Conversely, those in the placebo cohort only saw a minimal decrease of 1.5% in weight and 1.3cm in waist circumference.

After two years, more than half of the people who had taken semaglutide had moved down to a lower BMI category. However, only 16% of those who took the placebo had made the same progress.

Ryan stated that the amount of weight loss achieved by a varied and sizable group of people implies that it might be feasible to decrease the overall impact of various diseases associated with obesity on public health.

Although our experiment was centered on heart-related incidents, multiple persistent illnesses such as diverse forms of cancer, osteoarthritis, and stress and sadness would reap rewards from proper monitoring of body weight.

The pharmaceutical industry is abuzz with the popularity of GLP-1 medications, which has resulted in a shortage of supply due to the high demand. Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly are now competing against each other to meet the market demands.

As the industry learns more about the advantages of GLP-1s and they become increasingly favored, it is anticipated that the industry will have to manage even higher requests for them.