Wegovy could prevent 1.5 million heart attacks, strokes over 10 years

Novo Nordisk’s blockbuster weight reduction injection Wegovy could prevent as much as 1.5 million heart attacks, strokes and other cardiovascular events within the U.S. over 10 years, in line with a study released this week. 

Researchers from the University of California, Irvine, also found that Wegovy could end in 43 million fewer Americans with obesity over a decade. Notably, the study was partly funded by Novo Nordisk. 

The study results complement the initial data the Danish company released last week from a big clinical trial, which found that Wegovy slashed the chance of great heart problems and heart-related death by 20%. 

Novo Nordisk’s trial studied chubby or obese patients with established heart problems, while UC Irvine’s study examined similar patients, albeit without the disease. 

Together, the outcomes suggest that Wegovy and, likely, similar obesity drugs have significant health advantages beyond shedding unwanted kilos. Physicians and Wall Street analysts hope that might eventually put more pressure on insurers to cover obesity medications, which cost greater than $1,000 a month.

“It’s one in every of the most important advances within the obesity and cardiovascular medicine world,” said Nathan Wong, who led the study and is director of the Heart Disease Prevention Program in UC Irvine’s division of cardiology. “We now have a weight control therapy that also significantly reduces cardiovascular events beyond the diabetes population where it was originally studied.” 

Researchers based their projections on Novo Nordisk’s STEP 1 trial, which showed Wegovy helped patients lose 15% of their body weight and likewise resulted in lower cardiovascular risk aspects.

The study estimated that 93 million U.S. adults would meet the eligibility criteria for the STEP 1 trial, which studied people who find themselves chubby or obese and excluded those with Type 2 diabetes. 

Researchers projected that just about half, or 43 million people, would now not have obesity after treatment with Wegovy for 10 years. 

An estimated 83 million Americans without established heart problems would also experience heart health advantages after taking Wegovy for a decade. 

Wegovy would cut back the chance of great heart problems in that population by 17.8%, which translates to 1.5 million preventable heart attacks, strokes and other cardiovascular events. 

The evaluation didn’t estimate the extra events that could be prevented amongst eligible adults with established heart problems. 

Wegovy and Novo Nordisk’s diabetes drug Ozempic sparked a weight reduction industry gold rush last yr for helping patients lose unwanted weight. They’re a part of a category of medicine called GLP-1 agonists, which mimic a hormone produced within the gut to suppress an individual’s appetite. 

But Novo Nordisk is grappling with supply constraints which have led to shortages of each drugs. 

There are also reports of patients who had suicidal and self-harm thoughts after taking Wegovy and other weight reduction drugs, which raised questions on the unintended and potentially life-threatening unwanted effects of the treatments