(GoRealNewsNow.com) – A bombshell study published by the Journal of the American College of Cardiology (JACC) revealed that people taking weight loss drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy have a much lower risk of dying or facing severe effects from COVID-19.
Researchers found that subjects on a 2.4 mg dose of Semaglutide—the active ingredient in these drugs—had “consistently lower rates” of death from any cause during the trial period.
Semaglutide helps the pancreas release the right amount of insulin when blood sugar is high and can also reduce appetite.
Brigham and Women’s Hospital, funded by Novo Nordisk, led the research. The company behind Ozempic and Wegovy observed 17,604 cardiovascular disease patients aged 45 or older, all with a BMI of 27 or higher. The trial lasted an average of 3.3 years, and participants were given either liraglutide or a placebo.
Though the study began before the COVID-19 pandemic, the outbreak overlapped with the trial, allowing researchers to examine how semaglutide affected patients at high risk for severe COVID-19 complications due to their existing health conditions.
Moreover, results showed that semaglutide did not lower the risk of catching the virus, but those on the drug experienced fewer serious COVID-related adverse events or deaths compared to those on a placebo.
Specifically, 232 people on semaglutide faced serious adverse events, compared to 277 on the placebo. Furthermore, 43 people on the drug died, compared to 65 who were not on it.
Overall, patients on semaglutide had a 33% lower chance of dying from COVID-19.
“The trial started before COVID-19, and we never anticipated a global respiratory pandemic,” said Benjamin M. Scirica, one of the study’s co-authors.
“It is rare for a cardio-metabolic drug to modify non-cardiovascular outcomes,” he 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.”
The study also found that those taking the drug had lower overall death rates, driven by reductions in both cardiovascular and non-cardiovascular deaths.
The decrease in non-cardiovascular deaths among semaglutide users was “predominantly because of fewer infectious deaths,” the researchers noted. “These findings highlight the effect of semaglutide on mortality across a broad population of patients with [cardiovascular] disease and obesity.”
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