Summary: A new trial reveals that weekly injections of the weight-loss drug Wegovy (semaglutide) lowered the risk of death from COVID-19 by about a third and reduced overall mortality by 19%.
The study followed more than 17,000 participants with heart disease and obesity, showing that Wegovy decreased the likelihood of death from cardiovascular disease by 15% and other causes by 23%.
The findings are surprising, as the drug also lessened COVID-19 severity despite equal infection rates in both the Wegovy and placebo groups. Further studies are needed to understand the mechanisms behind these benefits.
Key Facts:
- Wegovy reduced the risk of death from COVID-19 by 33% in trial participants.
- Overall mortality decreased by 19% for those on Wegovy compared to placebo.
- The study followed over 17,000 participants with heart disease and obesity.
Source: Harvard
A trial study has found that injections of the weight-loss drug Wegovy reduced the risk of deaths from COVID-19 by about a third while also significantly reducing risk of death from cardiovascular disease or any other cause.
The trial was led by Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women’s Hospital. It was funded by Novo Nordisk, makers of Wegovy (the brand name of semaglutide).
From October 2018 through March 2023, researchers studied the effect of once-weekly Wegovy shots versus placebo on mortality in more than 17,000 participants with heart disease and overweight or obesity.
The study showed that patients on Wegovy were about 15 percent less likely to die from cardiovascular disease and 23 percent less likely from other reasons as compared to those who took a placebo.
Overall death rates in the group taking Wegovy were 19 percent lower compared to placebo.
“The trial started before COVID-19, and we never anticipated a global respiratory pandemic,” said corresponding author Benjamin M. Scirica, director of quality initiatives at BWH’s Cardiovascular Division and professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School.
“It is rare for a cardio-metabolic drug to modify non-cardiovascular outcomes,” Scirica added.
“The fact that semaglutide reduced non-cardiovascular death, and in particular COVID-19-related deaths, was surprising. It opens up new avenues for exploring how this class of drugs may benefit patients.”
In the study, people taking Wegovy were just as likely to get COVID-19, but they had fewer serious illnesses or deaths related to COVID-19.
The researchers do not know if the benefit of Wegovy is due to weight loss or other effects, but suggest that extra weight may be the greatest contributor to lower life expectancy.
This result is from just one observation, albeit in a large, multinational study, so the findings need to be replicated. Further studies will explore potential mechanisms of action, and other studies of drugs in this class should provide additional data.
Disclosures: Benjamin Scirica reports institutional research grants to Brigham and Women’s Hospital from Better Therapeutics, Merck, Novo Nordisk, and Pfizer; consulting fees from Allergan, Amgen, Boehringer Ingelheim, Better Therapeutics, Elsevier Practice Update Cardiology, Esperion, Hanmi, Lexicon, and Novo Nordisk; and equity in health [at] Scale, and Doximity.
Funding: Novo Nordisk funded this study and was responsible for the study design in collaboration with the academic steering committee. They contributed to data collection, analysis, and interpretation and participated in the preparation and review of the manuscript in collaboration with the authors.
About this COVID-19 and neuropharmacology research news
Author: BWH Communications
Source: Harvard
Contact: BWH Communications – Harvard
Image: The image is credited to Neuroscience News
Original Research: Open access.
“The Effect of Semaglutide on Mortality and COVID-19–Related Deaths: An Analysis From the SELECT Trial” by Benjamin M. Scirica et al. Journal of the American College of Cardiology
Abstract
The Effect of Semaglutide on Mortality and COVID-19–Related Deaths: An Analysis From the SELECT Trial
Background
Patients with overweight and obesity are at increased risk of death from multiple causes, including cardiovascular (CV) death, with few therapies proven to reduce the risk.
Objectives
This study sought to assess the effect of semaglutide 2.4 mg on all-cause death, CV death, and non-CV death, including subcategories of death and death from coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19).
Methods
The SELECT (Semaglutide Effects on Cardiovascular Outcomes in Patients With Overweight or Obesity) trial randomized 17,604 participants ≥45 years of age with a body mass index ≥27 kg/m2 with established CV disease but without diabetes to once-weekly subcutaneous semaglutide 2.4 mg or placebo; the mean trial duration was 3.3 years. Adjudicated causes of all deaths, COVID-19 cases, and associated deaths were captured prospectively.
Results
Of 833 deaths, 485 (58%) were CV deaths, and 348 (42%) were non-CV deaths. Participants assigned to semaglutide vs placebo had lower rates of all-cause death (HR: 0.81; 95% CI: 0.71-0.93), CV death (HR: 0.85; 95% CI: 0.71-1.01), and non-CV death (HR: 0.77; 95% CI: 0.62-0.95).
The most common causes of CV death with semaglutide vs placebo were sudden cardiac death (98 vs 109; HR: 0.89; 95% CI: 0.68-1.17) and undetermined death (77 vs 90; HR: 0.85; 95% CI: 0.63-1.15). Infection was the most common cause of non-CV death and occurred at a lower rate in the semaglutide vs the placebo group (62 vs 87; HR: 0.71; 95% CI: 0.51-0.98).
Semaglutide did not reduce incident COVID-19; however, among participants who developed COVID-19, fewer participants treated with semaglutide had COVID-19–related serious adverse events (232 vs 277; P = 0.04) or died of COVID-19 (43 vs 65; HR: 0.66; 95% CI: 0.44-0.96).
High rates of infectious deaths occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic, with less infectious death in the semaglutide arm, and resulted in fewer participants in the placebo group being at risk for CV death.
Conclusions
Compared to placebo, patients treated with semaglutide 2.4 mg had lower rates of all-cause death, driven similarly by CV and non-CV death. The lower rate of non-CV death with semaglutide was predominantly because of fewer infectious deaths.
These findings highlight the effect of semaglutide on mortality across a broad population of patients with CV disease and obesity.
