Semaglutide has been found to reduce the rates of all-cause death, including as a result of Covid-19, in those who are overweight or have obesity and established cardiovascular disease without diabetes.

The findings were published in JACC, the journal of the American College of Cardiology and presented at the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) Conference 2024 in London.

Semaglutide, which is approved for diabetes (as Ozempic) and obesity (as Wegovy), has been hailed as a miracle drug, found to reduce the risk of cardiovascular events and cancer. However, it has also been associated with an increase in suicidal thoughts.

In this new substudy of the SELECT Trial, researchers looked at whether once-weekly semaglutide (2.4mg) reduced rates of all-cause death, CV death, and non-CV death, including death from Covid-19.

“This groundbreaking study demonstrates that semaglutide, perhaps by improving cardiometabolic health, has far-reaching benefits beyond what we initially imagined,” said Harlan Krumholz, Editor-in-Chief of JACC and the Harold H Hines, Junior Professor at the Yale School of Medicine. “The ability of semaglutide to significantly lower cardiovascular and Covid-19-related adverse events underscores the transformative potential of targeting obesity and improving cardiometabolic health as a strategy to protect against a broad spectrum of health threats.”

He also told The Guardian: “It’s not just avoiding heart attacks. These are health promoters. It wouldn’t surprise me that improving people’s health this way actually slows down the ageing process.”

Robust reduction in non-CV deaths

The SELECT trial enrolled 17,604 people who were 45 years old or older and were overweight or had obesity and established CV disease but not diabetes. They received one-weekly semaglutide (2.4mg) or placebo and were followed for 3.3 years.

Of the 833 deaths in trial participants, 58% were CV related, and 42% were non-CV related. Participants assigned to semaglutide had lower rates of all-cause death, CV death, and non-CV death. Infection was the most common cause of non-CV death, but that occurred at a lower rate in the semaglutide group vs the placebo group.

Semaglutide did not reduce rates of Covid-19, but among participants who developed Covid-19, those who were treated with semaglutide had fewer Covid-19-related adverse events or died from Covid-19 (2.6% on semaglutide vs 3.1% on placebo).

“The robust reduction in non-CV death, and particularly infections deaths, was surprising and perhaps only detectable because of the Covid-19-related surge in non-CV deaths,” said Benjamin Scirica, lead author of the study, a Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine at Harvard Medical School, and Director of Innovation in the Cardiovascular Division at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.

“However, these findings reinforce that overweight and obesity increases the risk of death due to many aetiologies, which can be modified with potent incretin-based therapies like semaglutide.”

Diana Spencer, Senior Digital Content Editor, DDW