An ER doctor says we need to keep pushing the envelope
Just like its sister medication, Ozempic, Wegovy has been linked to lower risks of cardiovascular disease and other causes of death. No, it isshowing the ability to do even more than what it was originally intended. In addition to weight loss, recent studies have shown that Wegovy significantly reduces the risk of death from COVID-19.
During the clinical trial, some participants taking the drug still contracted the virus, but their risk of death decreased by 33%, according to the study.
The onset of the pandemic during the trial allowed researchers to assess how COVID-19 affected patients who were at high risk for severe complications and death due to their existing comorbidities and to determine whether semaglutide altered that risk.
The study, funded by Novo Nordisk, the maker of Wegovy, included 17,694 participants diagnosed with heart disease. Among them, 4,258 contracted COVID-19, with roughly half receiving Wegovy and the other half given a placebo.
Out of those who became infected, 184 people died. Among the deceased, 106 had been taking the placebo, while 78 were on Wegovy.
A physician says we cant stop here
Dr. Jeremy Faust, an emergency room doctor at Bostons Brigham and Womens Hospital, authored an editorial that accompanied the study.
The single most important takeaway from Fausts comments may be that semaglutide, a drug initially intended for other purposes, significantly reduced COVID-19 mortality among high-risk patients without changing infection rates.
Pandemics reveal much about societies and expose their weaknesses. The lessons should motivate action. That our population needs to be healthier is obvious, he wrote.
But repurposed research like the SELECT trial can yield less obvious insights, including the notion that semaglutide (and others like it) could have dramatically improved outcomes of a pandemic caused by a respiratory virus, of all things. That is the beauty of clinical researchit can surprise us.
Faust concluded his comments by suggesting that medical researchers need to keep up the pace of pushing the envelope or, as he said, more assertively harness the ingenuity of our nations research community when the next pandemic inevitably occurs. The insights that could be generated are impossible to predict. That is why they might be so spectacular.
Photo Credit: Consumer Affairs News Department Images
Posted: 2024-09-04 11:28:00
