DUBLIN – Taking Novo Nordisk’s new obesity drug may help reduce the risk of heart disease as well as boosting weight loss, according to new research from the United States.

After a year of taking semaglutide, marketed as Wegovy, patients’ risk of suffering from conditions like a heart attack or a stroke over the next 10 years dropped to 6.3 per cent from 7.6 per cent when measured by a commonly used calculator, researchers at Mayo Clinic found.

The results, presented this week at the European Congress on Obesity in Dublin, are among the first indication that the weight loss induced by the new GLP-1 agonist drugs like Wegovy also brings heart health benefits – something scientists expected, but do not yet have much comprehensive data to prove.

The study was done only among 93 patients, and the researchers said more and larger studies are needed to see if the risk reduction score actually means less illness and death long-term.

Novo is expected to release results from its five-year trial looking into the health impact of its injectable drug, particularly around heart disease, later this year. Investors, governments and insurers are keenly watching the data.

“It is extremely important because we know obesity is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease,” Dr Andres Acosta, one of the researchers, told Reuters.

“So the question is, with medications that are 15 per cent (average weight loss), can we really start improving cardiovascular risk and say people are dying less?”

The risk was calculated using the American College of Cardiology’s calculator, based on data including blood pressure and cholesterol levels.

The team assessed the risk before the patients – mainly white women, with a mean body mass index of 39.8, but no history of heart disease – started the drug as well as after one year of taking it. REUTERS