In a recently published analysis, pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk found that patients taking its injectable obesity drug, Wegovy, were one-third less likely to die from COVID-19 than their counterparts who took a placebo.
According to The New York Times, Novo was already conducting large clinical trials to examine the potential heart health benefits of Wegovy when the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020. Wegovy, Ozempic’s “sister” drug, uses the same GLP-1 agonist, semaglutide, as its active ingredient.
An unexpected opportunity
Dr. Benjamin Scirica, a researcher on the trial and a fellow at Harvard’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital, said the pandemic presented an unexpected opportunity. “I don’t think any of us expected the drug to have an effect,” Scirica said.
File photo: a 0. 25 mg injection pen of novo nordisk’s weight-loss drug wegovy is shown in this photo illustration in oslo, norway, september 1, 2023. Reuters/victoria klesty/illustration/file photo
The study, published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, looked at more than 17,600 obese, nondiabetic patients over a three-year period, trying to understand how they fared during the pandemic. About 4,200 participants contracted the virus, split evenly between the group taking semaglutide and one taking a placebo.
Of the infected patients, 184 people died: 78 were in the semaglutide-treated group, while 106 were in the placebo group.
Reduction in mortality by 33%
The researchers found that semaglutide reduced deaths from COVID-19 infection by 33%. The study also revealed another striking finding: The reduction in all-cause death rates among participants taking the drug was 19%. This finding, the New York Times points out, is rare in clinical trials of new drugs.
Even more surprising, the drug’s protective effects appeared to occur before participants began losing weight, suggesting that the benefits go beyond simple loss of body mass.
New horizons for GLP-1
In addition to these impressive results, this study adds further evidence to the growing body of research showing that semaglutide and other GLP-1 agonists not only help with weight loss, but also have positive effects on a wide range of conditions, including heart health, cognitive ability, and even addiction.
Dr. Jeremy Faust, an emergency room physician at Brigham and Women’s who wrote an editorial on the topic, told the NYT that the results confirm that the hype around these drugs is well-founded. “All the hype around these drugs is just that: hype,” Faust said. “But these drugs are proving time and time again that they are game-changers.”
As the results continue to emerge, it’s becoming increasingly clear that semaglutide is more than just a weight-loss drug, but a potential tool in the fight against a wide range of diseases. With a reduction in COVID-19 mortality and other health benefits, Wegovy is emerging as one of the most significant drug discoveries in recent years.
