Final results of the SELECT trial have shown that the anti-obesity drug semaglutide (Wegovy) produced a consistent reduction of around 20% vs placebo across major cardiovascular event endpoints over the approximately 3-year follow-up in patients with overweight or obesity and cardiovascular disease but not diabetes.
"This is a very exciting set of results. I think it is going to have a big impact on a large number of people," lead investigator A. Michael Lincoff, MD, vice chair for research in the department of cardiovascular medicine at the Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio, told theheart.org | Medscape Cardiology.
"And from a scientific standpoint, these data show that we now have a new pathway or a new modifiable risk factor for cardiovascular disease that we can use in our patients who have overweight or obesity," he added.
The trial involved 17,604 patients with a history of cardiovascular disease and a BMI of 27 or above (mean BMI was 33), who were randomly assigned to the glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) agonist semaglutide, given by subcutaneous injection once weekly at a gradually escalating dose up to 2.4 mg daily by week 16, or placebo. The mean baseline glycated hemoglobin level was 5.8% and 66.4% of patients met the criteria for prediabetes.