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Aug. 8, 2023 – Issues within the coronary heart and blood vessels comparable to coronary heart assaults and strokes had been lowered 20% amongst sufferers taking the favored however costly weight reduction drug Wegovy, based on a trial of greater than 17,000 individuals with chubby or weight problems who additionally had heart problems.
The discovering ought to gasoline improved affected person entry to this drug, a weight reduction agent that has traditionally been hindered by skepticism amongst U.S. medical health insurance corporations who now might even see broader well being advantages than simply the remedy of chubby and weight problems.
Wegovy maker Novo Nordisk launched the study results this morning. The examine discovered that individuals who obtained 2.4-milligram photographs of semaglutide (whose model identify is Wegovy) confirmed a big 20% discount in heart-related deaths, coronary heart assaults, or strokes.
The corporate stated semaglutide remedy additionally considerably lowered how usually every of those points occurred.
The outcomes additionally confirmed a degree of security and affected person tolerance for weekly photographs that had been according to prior studies. The FDA authorized semaglutide as Wegovy in 2021 for weight reduction, and as Ozempic, with a most dose of two.0 milligrams, for blood sugar management in individuals with sort 2 diabetes. Semaglutide belongs to a category of medicine referred to as glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) agonists.
‘A Good Consequence for Sufferers’
“The highest line outcomes … are thrilling as stopping coronary heart assaults and stroke with a drug that additionally lowers weight is essential for a lot of sufferers, particularly if the info additionally present, as I believe they are going to, a significant enchancment of high quality of life for sufferers as a result of related weight reduction,” stated Naveed Sattar, PhD, a professor of metabolic medication on the College of Glasgow in Scotland who was not concerned with the examine.
“This can be a good end result for sufferers,” stated Sattar, who additionally famous that “we have no idea to what extent the load loss results of semaglutide, versus its different direct results on blood vessels or the center, account for the 20% discount in cardiovascular occasions, and extra information are wanted to attempt to work this out.”
Regardless of this lack of readability over the function weight reduction itself performed in driving the outcomes, the findings problem a long-standing prejudice towards the medical necessity and security of weight reduction medicine when used for the only level of serving to individuals drop some pounds.
Altering How Weight problems Is Regarded
“So far, there aren’t any authorized weight administration medicines confirmed to ship efficient weight administration whereas additionally lowering the danger of coronary heart assault, stroke or cardiovascular demise,” Martin Holst Lange, MD, PhD, government vice chairman for improvement at Novo Nordisk, stated within the firm’s information launch.
A number of of the early medical choices for aiding weight reduction had substantial hostile results, together with elevated main points within the coronary heart and blood vessels, a historical past that led to a variety of warning amongst medical doctors over the protection of anti-obesity brokers and the knowledge of utilizing medically aided weight reduction to supply well being advantages.
This perspective additionally helped dampen medical health insurance protection of weight reduction therapies. For instance, Medicare has a long-standing policy towards reimbursing the price of medicines which are used for weight reduction, and a 2003 federal regulation prohibited Half D plans from offering this protection.
In line with the Novo Nordisk announcement, there can be a full report on outcomes from the trial at a scientific assembly later this yr.
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