Novo Says Weight Loss Alone Isn’t to Thank For Wegovy’s Heart Benefits

Novo Nordisk unveiled fresh findings at a prominent medical conference, indicating that the cardiovascular benefits of its widely used Wegovy obesity treatment extend beyond mere weight loss.

Early outcomes from the Select study, undertaken by the Danish pharmaceutical company and disclosed in August, revealed that Wegovy, renowned for facilitating a reduction in body weight, also reduced the risk of stroke, heart attack, and cardiovascular-related mortality by as much as 20%.

The study’s complete results were presented in a packed room at the yearly scientific conference of the American Heart Association in Philadelphia. According to the study authors, Wegovy patients had a lower risk of cardiovascular events than placebo patients practically immediately after therapy initiation.

Wegovy was shown to reduce the chance of non-fatal cardiac event by nearly 30%, non-fatal stroke by 7%, and heart-related fatality by 15% in contrast to a placebo in a study involving individuals who were overweight or obese based on their body mass index and who already suffered from heart disease but did not have diabetes.

According to Novo, the fact that individuals had not begun to reduce their body weight when the cardiovascular advantages initially surfaced implies that heart protection was not just the product of weight reduction.

Stanford University cardiac specialist Dr. Chad Weldy said it was important to emphasize that the study only looked at how semaglutide could stop heart disease from getting worse, not how it might stop heart disease from starting in the first place.

Despite that, the magnitude of the patient group covered by this experiment should help clinicians think about the types of people who should be administered Wegovy based on the information gathered.

The study researchers claimed that while knowledge of the workings of the cardiovascular defense from semaglutide remains theoretical, there is an ongoing impact on related risk variables that support the concept that numerous pathways are underlying the drug’s therapeutic effects.

Inflammation, blood pressure, and blood sugar regulation are all related risk factors that can have an effect on cardiovascular health.

At the medical symposium, lead author John Deanfield predicted that the trial findings would spark a debate among medical professionals over Wegovy’s place in doctors’ treatments.

Nearly 1,500 individuals in the Wegovy group dropped the treatment – which enrolled 17,604 people and ran for 33 months – due to unpleasant side effects, most often gastrointestinal illnesses including nausea and vomiting. This was in contrast to 718 participants in the placebo group.

Despite the fact that this study wasn’t designed to measure weight loss, participants nonetheless managed to shed over 10% of their starting weight. According to Novo, participants in the cardiac research were not required to keep a diet or activity log, unlike in obesity studies.

Wegovy was shown to be safe and well tolerated in this research, which is consistent with results from other semaglutide studies, according to Novo.

The post Novo Says Weight Loss Alone Isn’t to Thank For Wegovy’s Heart Benefits appeared first on LifeSci Voice.