A new analysis finds that the heart-protecting benefits of semaglutide are largely independent of its weight loss effects.
The benefits of semaglutide, the active ingredient in popular drugs Ozempic and Wegovy, aren’t just limited to treating obesity. New research shows that semaglutide can protect people’s hearts regardless of how many pounds they lose while taking it.
Scientists examined data from a large-scale clinical trial of people with obesity and pre-existing cardiovascular disease. Compared to people on placebo, they found, those on semaglutide were less likely to develop heart attacks and other cardiovascular problems—even when people hadn’t lost much weight at all. The results indicate that semaglutide can improve heart health in more than one way, the researchers and outside experts say.
The findings “highlight that the cardioprotective effects of semaglutide may be independent of adiposity and weight loss,” Laurence Sperling, a preventive cardiologist at Emory University not affiliated with the study, told Gizmodo.Good for the heart
Semaglutide and other GLP-1 drugs have heralded a new era of obesity (and diabetes) treatment. But for a time, it was unclear if these drugs would also improve people’s cardiovascular health, and to what extent.
Novo Nordisk (the makers of Ozempic and Wegovy) funded a large, randomized, controlled, and double-blinded study designed to answer that open question—the SELECT trial. It involved roughly 17,000 people with obesity and a history of cardiovascular disease, who were followed for up to five years. The primary results from the SELECT trial, published almost two years ago, showed that high-dose semaglutide (the version approved as Wegovy for treating obesity) reduced people’s risk of heart attacks and other major cardiovascular events by 20% during the study period. Based on these findings, the Food and Drug Administration expanded its approval of Wegovy to also cover the prevention of cardiovascular disease in high-risk groups.
Since obesity is known to increase the risk of heart disease, it’s easy to assume that semaglutide’s heart benefits are mostly tied to helping people lose weight.
