New trial outcomes present the weight-loss remedy Wegovy also can minimize coronary heart assault and stroke dangers, in keeping with the drug’s maker.
SARAH MCCAMMON, HOST:
The maker of Wegovy is claiming the burden loss drug also can minimize the danger of coronary heart assaults and strokes. NPR’s Allison Aubrey experiences.
ALLISON AUBREY, BYLINE: It is no secret that Wegovy, like its counterpart Ozempic, is in excessive demand. These medication are very efficient at serving to individuals management urge for food and handle weight. Now, Novo Nordisk, the maker of Wegovy, has outcomes from a five-year examine that present individuals with weight problems or who’re chubby that take the drug have a couple of 20% diminished threat of getting a significant cardiac occasion, equivalent to a coronary heart assault or stroke. This is doctor Steven Nissen, a heart specialist on the Cleveland Clinic who was not concerned within the examine.
STEVEN NISSEN: This can be a very promising consequence, however how promising will rely on different issues.
AUBREY: The outcomes of the examine, which included about 17,000 adults, haven’t but been revealed in a peer-reviewed journal. And Dr. Nissen says key particulars equivalent to potential dangers will not be included within the firm’s press launch. He says the discount in coronary heart assaults and strokes appears very important.
NISSEN: We now know that there’s a profit, and that is nice, however we do not know what the dangers are. And it is at all times about profit versus threat with any drug, and we have to see all of that.
AUBREY: Dr. Nissen is learning an analogous drug, Mounjaro, in an ongoing medical trial. Dr. Pamela Brandt of Inova Well being System treats sufferers with weight problems and says Wegovy does have some frequent negative effects.
PAMELA BRANDT: Individuals really feel full way more shortly however that may additionally result in nausea or a rise in acid reflux disorder or feeling simply uncomfortably full.
AUBREY: Uncommon negative effects embrace the danger of pancreatitis and, in rodent research, a threat of thyroid tumors. So docs display screen sufferers for a household historical past of a particular form of thyroid most cancers. The findings of the brand new examine come amid a debate about whether or not Medicare ought to pay for the blockbuster weight reduction medication. And Dr. Brandt says the brand new analysis exhibits that weight reduction for these sufferers just isn’t about self-importance or appearances. It is about stopping illness.
BRANDT: The entire purpose of treating individuals to assist them obtain weight reduction is to make them more healthy. So seeing that they really have a decreased threat of cardiovascular occasions like coronary heart assaults and strokes, that is what’s actually essential.
AUBREY: Brandt says she appears to be like ahead to seeing all the main points and what might be a landmark examine.
Allison Aubrey, NPR Information.
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