The latest analysis of the weight loss drug Wegovy suggests that the drug not only helps people lose weight and keep it off, but also has heart-protective qualities.
According to a Reuters report, patients taking obesity treatment Novo Nordisks Wegovy maintained an average weight loss of 10% after four years, which could boost the drugmaker’s case to insurers and to governments to cover the cost of the effective but expensive drug.
The data were presented on Tuesday at the European Congress on Obesity in Italy.
As CNN reported, analysis of a trial called SELECT, the results of which last year showed that Wegovy significantly reduced heart risk in addition to helping with weight loss, also suggests that the drug may protect the heart in ways beyond weight loss alone, the researchers said. new questions about how popular drugs in this drug class should be used and insurers cover them.
The SELECT clinical trial included more than 17,000 patients. According to the article, the researchers, led by Dr. Donna Ryan of the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, noted that the trend showed that participants taking the drug typically lost weight over about 65 weeks, or a year and three months, before reaching a plateau.
Decreased cardiovascular risk
An analysis of clinical trial data last year found that Wegovy reduces heart attacks, stroke and other heart-related risks by 20% in those who are already at risk of heart disease because of their weight The new analysis of the data, published in the journal Nature Medicine, said that in patients treated with semaglutide, the lab-created hormone that is the active ingredient in Wegovy, weight loss was maintained over four years and the drug was associated with fewer adverse effects. events, including stroke.
A University of California Irvine study published in Cardiovascular Drugs and Therapy last summer estimated that as many as 93 million American adults could benefit from the drug. The researchers said up to 1.5 million heart attacks and strokes could be prevented over a decade and the drug could lead to 43 million less obese people.
Wegovy and Ozempic, designed to treat type 2 diabetes, have been called weight-loss miracles, as the Deseret News reported a year ago. The two drugs use different doses of semaglutide, which is a glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) that mimics a satiety hormone, so people stop eating sooner because they feel full.
According to the article, Wegovy is approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for chronic weight management in those who are significantly overweight who have related medical conditions such as high blood pressure or high cholesterol. Ozempic is prescribed to control type 2 diabetes the side effect of weight loss a happy accident discovery.
Despite its high list price at US$1,349 for a month’s supply, Novo Nordisk CEO Lars Fruergaard Jorgensen told CNN earlier this month that the company has been increasing its supply of Wegovy, which has been in short supply CNN reported that demand has skyrocketed, with at least 25,000 people now starting to take the drug each week in the United States.
A survey by KFF (formerly the Kaiser Family Foundation) found that about 1 in 8 American adults now take a GLP-1 agonist drug. Half as many say they are currently taking the drug. Most adults who have taken GLP-1 drugs say they took them to treat a chronic condition such as diabetes or heart disease (62%), while about 4 in 10 say they took them mainly for weight loss , according to the survey.
The survey report noted that about half of those using the drug found it difficult to pay.
Other indications?
Novo Nordisk also announced that it will test Wegovy and other GLP-1 drugs to see if they can help with alcohol-related liver disease and whether it could change how much people drink. Per Stat News, this appears to be the first time the company has been involved in research to see whether the booming class of diabetes and obesity drugs GLP-1 can affect substance use, a question that academic researchers have been investigating but what the pharmaceutical industry has done. so far avoided.
According to the article, this study will look at the impact in terms of liver scarring and also changes in alcohol consumption.
#study #sheds #light #megaseller #Wegovys #performance #time
Image Source : www.deseret.com