Wegovy may help with heart issues: Analysis

Results showed that patients lost an average of nearly 10% of their total body weight after 65 weeks on Wegovy.

(NewsNation) — Patients who took the weight-loss drug Wegovy showed significantly reduced heart risk in addition to maintaining weight loss, according to the results from Novo Nordisk's longest clinical trial.

In addition to weight loss, the 17,604-patient trial, called Select, tested Wegovy's heart-protective benefits for overweight and obese patients who had pre-existing heart disease but not diabetes.

Results showed that patients lost an average of nearly 10% of their total body weight after 65 weeks on Wegovy. Novo Nordisk stated that the weight loss percentage remained relatively consistent year after year until about four years when the weight loss reached 10.2%.

Participants weren't required to monitor their diet and exercise since it was not an obesity study.

A separate analysis published by Novo on Tuesday found that about 17% of trial participants stopped using the Wegovy due to side effects — nausea was the most common.

A third new analysis released on Select published by Novo on Tuesday showed Wegovy's heart-protective advantages extended to patients in the trial regardless of their initial weight and how much weight loss while on the medication.

The Select study showed that Wegovy reduced the risk of a major cardiovascular event, like a stroke, by 20% in overweight or obese people with a history of heart disease.

Novo said researchers are still working to understand the mechanisms of the cardiovascular protection that semaglutide provides.

Wegovy and Zepbound are being tested to assess their benefits for various medical conditions like lowering heart attack risk, sleep apnea, and kidney disease.

Despite this, the weight loss observed in the heart trial was lower than the average of 15% weight loss seen in earlier studies involving Wegovy before the drug was launched in the U.S. in June 2021.

Reuters contributed to this story.