Weight loss drugs are poised to revolutionize health care by slowing the aging process and helping people live longer, healthier lives, according to dramatic news from leading scientists after studies were presented at the European Society of Cardiology Conference in London last week.
Research has already shown that semaglutide – also known by the brand names Wegovy and Ozempic – reduces the risk of death in people who are obese or overweight and have cardiovascular disease.
But new studies have found that Ozempic has an impact beyond what was originally thought for the drug. People who took the drug died less often from all causes, not just cardiovascular causes, researchers found.
“Semaglutide has far-reaching benefits beyond what we originally thought,” said Prof Harlan Krumholz of the Yale School of Medicine. “These are not just about preventing heart attacks. These are health promoters. I wouldn’t be surprised if improving people’s health in this way actually slows the aging process.”
The studies were produced from the Select trial in the US, which studied 17,604 people aged 45 or older who were overweight or obese and had established cardiovascular disease but not diabetes. They were given semaglutide or a placebo and followed for more than three years.
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A total of 833 participants died during the study, 58% of which were related to cardiovascular causes and 42% to other causes, with infections being the most common cause of death in the latter group. Crucially, those taking semaglutide were less likely to die from infections than those in the placebo group, while it also consistently reduced the risk of adverse cardiovascular outcomes, it was found.
“The robust reduction in noncardiovascular deaths, and in particular deaths from infections, was surprising,” said Benjamin Scirica, a Harvard professor and lead author of one of the studies. “These findings confirm that overweight and obesity increase the risk of death from many etiologies that can be modified with therapies like semaglutide.”
