CNN —The weight loss drug Wegovy was shown to reduce the risk of heart attack, stroke or heart disease-related death by 20% in a major clinical trial in people with cardiovascular disease, the first to show a weight loss drug alone can have such protective effects. It called the five-year trial “Select.”The finding of a 20% reduction in heart risk is higher than many experts had anticipated. A similar trial for the type 2 diabetes drug Ozempic, which uses the same ingredient, semaglutide, previously showed it could reduce cardiovascular risk by 26% — but no trial had yet shown a risk reduction in people without diabetes. It said it will present detailed results from the trial at a scientific conference later this year. It’s awaiting US Food and Drug Administration approval for weight loss as well.

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Persons: Wegovy, 2.4mg, ”, Martin Holst Lange, Novo, Dr, Willa Hsueh, Jena Shaw Tronieri, Sanjay Gupta, Fuller, Steven Nissen, Eli Lilly, It’s, ” Nissen, he’d Organizations: CNN, Novo Nordisk, Diabetes, Metabolism Research, Wexner, The Ohio State University, Clinical Services, Center, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Nordisk, CNN Health, Cleveland, Food and Drug