The popular weight-loss drug Wegovy reduced the risk of serious heart problems by 20% in a large, international study that experts say could change the way doctors treat certain heart patients.
Wegovy is a high-dose version of the diabetes treatment Ozempic, which already has been shown to reduce the risk of serious heart problems in people who have diabetes.
Study volunteers who took Wegovy lost about 9% of their weight while the placebo group lost less than 1%.
About 17% in the Wegovy group and about 8% in the comparison group left the study, mostly because of nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and other stomach-related problems.
In 2006, Medicare was allowed to cover weight-loss surgery to treat the complications of severe obesity, if not obesity itself, he noted.
Persons:
Wegovy, pare, ”, Michael Lincoff, hasn’t, Dr, Francisco Lopez, Jimenez, Lopez, Martha Gulati, Gulati, Eli Lilly's Zepbound, Mark McClellan
Organizations:
Cleveland Clinic, Mayo Clinic, New England, of Medicine, Novo Nordisk, U.S . Food, Drug Administration, Sinai Medical Center, Medicare, Centers, Services, FDA, Associated Press Health, Science Department, Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science, Educational Media Group, AP
Locations:
U.S, Philadelphia, Novo, Los Angeles