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A new analysis of a clinical trial of semaglutide — the active ingredient in Wegovy — showed that the popular weight loss drug reduced the risk of Covid-19 deaths among patients with heart disease.
The analysis was presented this Friday at the European Society of Cardiology’s annual meeting in London and published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
Researchers found that trial participants taking semaglutide cut their risk of dying from COVID-19 by 34%, compared to patients taking a placebo.
The data was derived from Novo Nordisk’s NVO SELECT clinical trial, which assessed the effects of the drug on patients who were overweight or obese and had heart disease. Data from the trial previously showed that the drug reduce their risk of serious heart events such as heart attacks and strokes and paved the way for Wegovy to obtain Medicare coverage.
The trial monitored over 17,000 participants for a period of at least three years. When the COVID-19 pandemic emerged, researchers began tracking COVID-related complications, considering that individuals with obesity and heart conditions are at higher risk for severe outcomes from the virus.
The researchers reported that participants who received semaglutide contracted COVID-19 at the same rate as those on placebo.
However, only 232 participants on semaglutide had a severe COVID-related outcome, compared to 277 participants who were on the placebo. Additionally, just 45 patients on semaglutide died from COVID, while 43 on the placebo died.
“These findings highlight the mortality benefit of semaglutide across a broad population of patients with cardiovascular disease and obesity,” the researcher wrote. However, it is still unclear if weight loss alone was the cause of the improved outcome or if there are other factors that contributed.
