Weight loss ‘wonder drug’ semaglutide can cut down risk of heart disease, says Danish drugmaker
New Delhi: Blockbuster diabetes drug semaglutide, frequently prescribed for weight loss in the United States, can significantly lower the risk of cardiovascular events and related deaths, a new trial has found.
In a statement issued last week, Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk — which manufactures and distributes various versions of semaglutide — declared that results from its ‘SELECT’ cardiovascular outcomes trial have shown that a 2.4 mg dose of the drug can reduce major heart-related events by up to 20 percent.The company told ThePrint via email that it has only announced its main findings for now. “The full study will be published in a peer-reviewed journal before year-end,” it said.
In the US, 2.4 mg strength of semaglutide — a weekly injection — is sold by Novo Nordisk under the brand name Wegovy and is prescribed for obesity and weight loss even to people without diabetes.
The drug is prescribed in a lower dose to treat diabetes.
Semaglutide belongs to a class of medicine that works by attaching itself to receptors of gut hormones and leads to delayed gastric emptying — the slowing or stopping of the movement of food from the stomach to the small intestine. The drug has shown to cause improved insulin secretion while reducing appetite — a key reason why it is prescribed for obesity.
Although not available in India, semaglutide in the injectible form can be imported and costs between Rs 12,000 and 20,000 a month.
In India, a version of the drug is marketed under the brand name Rybelsus. This is, however, a lower dosage and is available in the form of pills.
Buoyed by its new findings, Novo Nordisk has said it now expects to file for regulatory approvals of a indication expansion for Wegovy — that is, expanding the drug’s use in applications other than the one it was originally intended for — in the US and the European Union this year.
A controversy broke out over the use of semaglutide just last month. In its report on 25 July, CNN quoted some women in the US as claiming to have developed gastroparesis or stomach paralysis — a disorder that affects the normal movement of the stomach muscles — after having used the drug for diabetes and weight loss for several years.
According to doctors ThePrint spoke to, the Novo Nordisk trial shows promise for a country like India, which has a high burden of cardiovascular diseases. A study conducted by researchers associated with the Madras Diabetes Research Foundation and the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), published in The Lancet this year, showed that a whopping 35.5 percent Indians have hypertension and 24 percent suffer from hypercholesterolaemia — a condition in which fat collects in arteries and puts individuals at greater risk of heart attack and stroke.
