© Reuters. Novo Nordisk (NVO.US) Weight Loss Pill Reappears Good: Can Reduce Symptoms of Heart Failure in Obese Patients
Novo Nordisk’s (NVO.US) blockbuster weight-loss drug Wegovy reduced heart failure symptoms in obese patients, according to a late-stage trial, adding to the drug’s potential benefits. Taking a dose once a week reduced patients’ symptoms, including shortness of breath, fatigue, leg swelling and irregular heartbeat, according to the findings, published Friday in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Eugene Yang, a cardiologist at the University of Washington and chair of the American College of Cardiology’s Committee on Cardiovascular Disease Prevention, said the Novo Nordisk findings are “very important.” “As cardiologists, we want to make people feel better,” Yang said. “Patients who can walk further are beneficial, and weight loss and optimizing other risk factors are beneficial.”
Obese people are generally at greater risk of heart failure because the lower chambers of the heart pump less blood than the body needs. In the United States, an estimated 2.5 million people suffer from the condition, known as heart failure with preserved ejection fraction, and more than 80 percent of them are also obese. It is most common in older adults, and it can be chronic and fatal.
Novo Nordisk shared some results from its heart failure study in a company report earlier this month: Another trial showed Wegovy reduced patients’ risk of heart attack and stroke. Both studies are important because Novo Nordisk is seeking broad reimbursement and Medicare coverage for Wegovy, which could cost more than $10,000 a year for the drug, according to Bloomberg analyst Michael Shah.
Martin Lange, head of research and development at Novo Nordisk, said the company is awaiting the results of a study of Wegovy in heart failure patients with type 2 diabetes, which is expected in the fourth quarter. If those results are positive, the drugmaker plans to seek to expand its treatment label to include treatments for heart failure and obesity, Lange said.
Shah said that would give Wegovy an edge over rival Eli Lilly & Co (LLY.US ) weight-loss drug Mounjaro. Mounjaro is expected to win U.S. approval this year as a treatment for obesity and is also in late-stage studies for treating heart failure, but Lilly is unlikely to announce those results before mid-2024.
The Novo Nordisk study enrolled 529 patients with a median age of 69 between March 2021 and March 2022. More than half of them are women, two-thirds are severely obese, and nearly all are white. About two-thirds limited physical activity due to heart failure, while the remainder experienced greater difficulty with daily activities. Patients treated with Wegovy experienced significant improvements in both symptoms and physical limitations. They also had lower blood pressure and inflammation, two important markers of heart health, than those who took a placebo.
The study did not directly measure outcomes such as hospitalizations and deaths, nor did any treatments have been shown to improve long-term survival in the heart failure patients observed in the study. “It’s really important to see if semaglutide changes that,” says Sadiya Khan, a cardiovascular epidemiologist at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.
The study was also presented at the annual meeting of the European Society of Cardiology in Amsterdam. Patients who received the treatment lost an average of about 31 pounds, or 13.3 percent of their body weight, the study showed.
Other medicines can help lower the chances of hospitalization in people with heart failure. AstraZeneca’s (AZN.US) hypoglycemic drug Farxiga received a deferred approval earlier this year, and Novartis’ (NVS.US) heart failure drug Entresto was also approved for the treatment of chronic heart failure in adults. Eli Lilly’s diabetes drug Jardiance is approved to treat heart failure in people with type 2 diabetes. “We shouldn’t call certain medications diabetes medications, heart medications, or kidney medications,” Khan noted. “It’s clear that there are multiple benefits for obese people who suffer from all of these diseases.”
2023-08-25 11:46:20
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