Wegovy boxes made by Novo Nordisk at a pharmacy in London, Britain, March 8, 2024.
Holly Adams | Reuters
He takes patients Novo NordiskWegovy's obesity drug Wegovy maintained an average of 10% weight loss for up to four years, according to a new analysis published Tuesday from the longest clinical trial to date on the treatment.
A second analysis of the same trial found that the hugely popular drug also reduced the risk of heart disease regardless of the patient's weight. Both analyzes were presented at the European Obesity Congress in Venice, Italy, this week.
The results highlight the long-term effects of Wegovy and add to growing evidence of the broad health benefits of weekly injections. This could strengthen Novo Nordisk's case for insurers and governments to cover the expensive but effective drug.
Insurance coverage is limited for Wegovy, which is part of a class of drugs called GLP-1s. Treatments for obesity and diabetes have risen in popularity over the past year, and work by mimicking a hormone produced in the intestines to suppress a person's appetite. No Novo Nordisk or Eli Lillywhich owns its own weight-loss drug, has managed to produce enough supplies to meet the insatiable demand for its treatments.
Both analyzes are based on data published in November from Novo Nordisk's SELECT trial. Results from that trial showed that Wegovy reduced the risk of heart attacks, strokes and other serious cardiovascular complications by 20% in people who were obese or overweight and also had cardiovascular disease.
The US Food and Drug Administration approved Wegovy for this purpose in March.
The SELECT trial, which included more than 17,000 patients from more than 40 countries, tested Wegovy for its cardiovascular benefits.
Participants were not asked to track diet and exercise because it was not an obesity study. Patients in the trial lost about 10% of their total body weight on average after 65 weeks of using Wegovy, according to the first analysis published in the journal Nature.
Patients continued to take the medication weekly over three years and four months and maintained weight loss for up to four years. Other research has shown that many people regain weight after stopping medication.
The second analysis showed that patients in the trial reaped Wegovy's heart benefits regardless of their weight when they started taking the drug and regardless of how much weight they lost on it.
For example, the reduced risk of serious cardiovascular disease for those who took Wegovy, compared to placebo, was similar among people who lost 5% or more of their body weight, those who lost less or even those who gained weight.
The results suggest that Wegovy helps improve a patient's heart health through methods beyond weight loss, the study authors concluded.
Notably, the weight loss in the trial was less than the average weight loss of 15% observed in a previous study on Wegovy's effect on obesity.
But the researchers noted in the first analysis that the previous study was designed specifically for weight loss and included structured lifestyle changes, such as diet and exercise. The population followed by the study was also different from the SELECT trial.
Safety results from both analyzes were consistent with previous data from the SELECT trial. More people in Wegovy decided to stop participating in the trial because of side effects than people who got a placebo.
Patients also experienced side effects consistent with other GLP-1 medications, such as nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, and constipation.
