UK's top cardiologist says introduction of semaglutide - sold under the brand names Wegozy and Ozempic - could be the biggest medical breakthrough for heart patients since statins arrived in the 1990s.Anti-obesity jabs should be prescribed to millions of Britons according to the UK’s leading cardiologist after a groundbreaking study showed it could slash the chances of heart attack and strokes – regardless of whether patients lost weight.
Prof Deanfield’s analysis of Select examined the amount of time before patients suffered major cardiovascular events – such as heart attack or stroke – or whether they developed heart failure. After 20 weeks of being on semaglutide, 62 per cent of patients had lost more than 5 per cent of their bodyweight compared with 10 per cent in the placebo group.
He said: “Around half of the patients that I see in my cardiovascular practice have levels of weight equivalent to those in the Select trial and are likely to derive benefit from taking semaglutide on top of their usual level of guideline-directed care. Our findings show that the magnitude of this treatment effect with semaglutide is independent of the amount of weight lost, suggesting that the drug has other actions which lower cardiovascular risk beyond reducing unhealthy body fat.
A 2.4mg once-weekly dose of Wegovy, alongside standard care for the prevention of heart attacks or stroke, lowered the risk by 20 per cent compared with those given a placebo.