Novo Nordisk A/S unveiled details from a closely watched study that supports the use of Wegovy, its blockbuster weight-loss drug, to cut heart attacks and deaths in obesity patients with a history of cardiovascular disease.
The results are “game-changing,” Eugene Yang, the chair of the American College of Cardiology’s prevention section, said in an interview.
Along with weight loss, people taking the highest dose of Wegovy saw a drop in blood sugar and inflammation — two harbingers of heart disease. That helps explain the big reduction in cardiovascular events that Novo reported in August. The latest results help cement the argument for using Novo’s drug as a heart treatment alongside statins and blood pressure therapies in high-risk people.
Research is revealing a new frontier for drugs that are often thought of as an easy way to shed pounds; they’re potentially life-saving, too. Heart disease is the No. 1 killer in the US and accounts for about a third of deaths globally.
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Along with reducing weight, blood sugar control and anti-inflammatory effects are likely what’s driving the benefit for heart disease shown in the study, Martin Holst Lange, Novo’s development chief, said in an interview.
