GLP-1 drugs could help prevent 34,000 heart attacks and strokes in the US each year, research suggests
CNN
Certain blockbuster weight-loss drugs have been found to protect the heart in significant ways, and new research suggests that the cardiovascular benefits could extend to an even broader set of patients than clinical trial data has shown – helping prevent tens of thousands of heart attacks and strokes each year in the United States.
Certain blockbuster weight-loss drugs have been found to protect the heart in significant ways, and new research suggests that the cardiovascular benefits could extend to an even broader set of patients than clinical trial data has shown – helping prevent tens of thousands of heart attacks and strokes each year in the United States. Clinical trial data from drugmaker Novo Nordisk showed that people using Wegovy had a 20% lower risk of a cardiac event than those who got a placebo. In March, the US Food and Drug Administration approved a change that added cardiovascular benefits to Wegovy’s label, making it the first weight-loss drug to be cleared to reduce the risk of heart attack, stroke or heart-related death in people at higher risk of these conditions. Wegovy is part of a class of drugs called GLP-1 receptor agonists, and its active ingredient, semaglutide, is also approved to treat type 2 diabetes as Ozempic. Novo Nordisk’s trial was limited to people living with obesity who had a previous heart attack or stroke, or symptoms of peripheral artery disease such as clogged arteries in the arms or legs. New research from Dandelion Health, a platform that uses real-world data and clinical AI to advance personalized care, found that GLP-1 drugs could also serve as primary prevention, significantly reducing risk for people with mild or moderate cardiovascular disease who hadn’t had a cardiac event. With the help of artificial intelligence, researchers analyzed real-world medical records for a set of patients who were similar to those enrolled in the Novo Nordisk clinical trial but without the history of a major adverse cardiovascular event.
