Weight-loss semaglutide helps Wegovy, Ozempic and Rybelsus ‘reduce risk of heart attacks and strokes’, study says

Anti-obesity shots could reduce the risk of heart attacks, strokes or heart failure in obese people, regardless of how much weight they lose while taking the drug, according to a study. This suggests the treatment could have effects beyond reducing unhealthy body fat, the researchers said.

A team led by Professor John Deanfield, from University College London (UCL), used data from the Select trial, which was conducted by semaglutide maker Novo Nordisk. The five-year study explored whether the drug – sold under the brand names Wegovy, Ozempic and Rybelsus – could reduce the risk of heart attack or stroke in obese people without diabetes.

It included 17,604 adults over the age of 45 from 41 countries. Professor Deanfield’s Select analysis looked at the length of time before patients suffered major cardiovascular events – such as heart attack or stroke – or whether they developed heart failure.

After 20 weeks of semaglutide treatment, 62% of patients lost more than 5% of their body weight, compared to 10% of the placebo group. However, the reduction in the risk of heart attacks, stroke or heart failure was similar in patients who lost more than 5% of their body weight and those who lost less than 5% or gained weight. Professor Deanfield said the findings “have important clinical implications”.

“About half of the patients I see in my cardiovascular practice have weight levels equivalent to those in the Select trial and are likely to benefit from semaglutide in addition to their usual level of guideline-directed care,” he added. “Our findings show that the magnitude of this semaglutide treatment effect is independent of the amount of weight lost, suggesting that the drug has other cardiovascular risk-lowering actions beyond reducing unhealthy body fat.

“These alternative mechanisms may include positive effects on blood sugar, blood pressure, or inflammation, as well as direct effects on heart muscle and blood vessels, or a combination of one or more of these.”

In August, researchers working on the Select trial found that semaglutide reduced the risk of a heart attack or stroke in obese people with cardiovascular disease by a fifth. A dose of 2.4 mg once a week of Wegovy, along with standard care for preventing heart attacks or strokes, reduced the risk by 20% compared with those given a placebo.

Professor Deanfield’s study is one of two researches based on the Select study being presented at the European Congress on Obesity (ECO) in Venice. The second, led by Professor Donna Ryan of the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in New Orleans, looked at the long-term effect of semaglutide on weight.

She said weight loss using semaglutide “can be sustained for up to four years” in adults who are overweight or obese without diabetes. Patients treated with semaglutide lost an average of 10.2% of body weight and 7.7 cm of waist, compared with 1.5% and 1.3 cm, respectively, in the placebo group. After two years, about 52 percent of people treated with semaglutide had dropped into a lower BMI category, compared with 16 percent of the placebo group.

Prof Ryan added: “This degree of weight loss in such a large and diverse population suggests that it may be possible to impact the public health burden of multiple obesity-related diseases. While our study focused on cardiovascular events, many other chronic diseases, including several cancers, osteoarthritis, and anxiety and depression would benefit from effective weight management.”

Professor Ryan’s findings were also published in Nature Medicine.