A new study has revealed that semaglutide, a common anti-diabetes drug, could lower risk of cardiovascular complications in diabetics, such as heart attacks and strokes, by up to 14 per cent.
The drug used to treat diabetes works by helping people manage their blood sugar levels. Semaglutide has also shown effectiveness in weight loss and thus, is also used as an anti-obesity medication.
Researchers, including those at the University of North Carolina, US, found that the oral form of Semaglutide can significantly reduce cardiovascular events in people with Type 2 diabetes, atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (arteries harden due to build-up of fat) and chronic kidney disease, as per news agency PTI.
“Heart attacks and strokes are among the most common and devastating complications of diabetes,” endocrinologist and the study’s lead author John Buse, a professor of medicine and director of the Diabetes Care Center, University of North Carolina, said.
“Semaglutide has been a main stay of our efforts to reduce heart attack and stroke in people with diabetes. Having an oral option to deliver this highly effective therapy is a big advance,” Buse said.
For the study, 9,650 people — aged 50 years and above — with Type 2 diabetes and known to have atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, chronic kidney disease, or both, were recruited. The participants were randomly assigned to receive either a once-daily oral Semaglutide (14 mg) or a placebo (an inactive substance). Standard treatment for lowering glucose and cardiovascular risk was provided to the study group.
“Among persons with Type 2 diabetes and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, chronic kidney disease, or both, the use of oral Semaglutide was associated with a significantly lower risk of major adverse cardiovascular events than placebo,” the authors wrote.
Non-fatal myocardial infarction, or heart attack, was seen to show the highest reduction in risk, they said.
(With inputs from PTI)