New Report On Novo Nordisk’s Weight Loss Drug – Wegovy
Earlier this week, Novo Nordisk announced that their weight loss drug, Wegovy, could reduce the risk of heart disease by 20%.
These results were reported from a study Novo Nordisk is performing. That study is called the “SELECT” trial. The purpose of this study is to determine how the heart is affected by the administration of semaglutide, the chemical name of the weight loss drug, Wegovy. Over 17,500 people that were overweight or obese with heart disease and no history of diabetes participated in the study.
This is the first report that semaglutide could decrease the chances of heart disease in non-diabetic patients.
Medical Expert Analysis of the Nova Nordisk Report
But what does this report really mean? We asked our medical experts at DrTalks to provide commentary on the recent health news. America’s Healthy Heart Doc, Joel Kahn, MD, FACC, provides an expert analysis of this announcement in a video posted on the DrTalks Youtube Channel.
According Dr. Kahn’s analysis, this is a promising discovery. However, there is more work needed before medical experts can accept that Wegovy will be a useful medication for heart health.
To help you understand why, Dr. Kahn said this:
“A 20% reduction is called a relative risk reduction. If 1% of the people on the placebo and 0.8% of the people on Wegovy had cardiac events. That’s a 20% drop. But it represents than less than 1 person in 100 is going to benefit from taking the expensive injection. But if it’s 10% rate of heart disease in the placebo and 8% rate of heart disease in the treated Wegovy group, then that’s an absolute reduction of 2%. And maybe it’s more than that. Maybe it went from 20% to 16%, relative reduction. And that’s a 4% absolute reduction.”
As you can see, there is still a lot of unknown information about this report. Yes, it is exciting. However, the full study needs to be published before any conclusions can be made.
In the meantime, what should you do to improve your cardiovascular health?
As Dr. Kahn says, you should keep up “with fitness programs, and with healthy diet programs like a whole food plant-based diet.”
Be sure to keep your eye on this study because there may be important findings that will affect your healthcare.
Joel Kahn, MD, FAAC Medical Background
Joel Kahn, MD, FACC of Detroit, Michigan, is a practicing cardiologist, and a Clinical Professor of Medicine at Wayne State University School of Medicine. He graduated Summa Cum Laude from the University of Michigan Medical School. Known as “America’s Healthy Heart Doc”. Dr. Kahn has triple board certification in Internal Medicine, Cardiovascular Medicine, and Interventional Cardiology. He was the first physician in the world to certify in Metabolic Cardiology with A4M/MMI and the University of South Florida. He founded the Kahn Center for Cardiac Longevity in Bingham Farms, MI in 2015.
DrTalks Videos with Heart Expert – Joel Kahn, MD, FACC
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Reversing Heart Disease with Precision Cardiology: The Kahn Center Method
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Reference:
Novo Nordisk. (2023). Novo Nordisk A/S: Semaglutide 2.4 mg reduces the risk of major adverse cardiovascular events by 20% in adults with overweight or obesity in the SELECT trial. Novo Nordisk. Read it here.
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