Semaglutide in Patients with Obesity and Cardiovascular Disease — But Without Diabetes

In a previously published trial, weekly injections of the glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) agonist semaglutide lowered the incidence of major adverse cardiovascular (CV) events in patients with type 2 diabetes and known CV disease or CV risk factors (NEJM JW Cardiol Nov 2016 and N Engl J Med 2016; 375:1834). In this new industry-sponsored, randomized trial, researchers examined semaglutide's CV effects in high-risk patients with obesity or overweight, but without diabetes.

The trial included ≈18,000 patients with body-mass index ≥27 kg/m² (mean BMI, 33 kg/m²), glycosylated hemoglobin <6.5% (mean HbA_1c, 5.8%), and histories of myocardial infarction, stroke, or symptomatic peripheral arterial disease. Patients received either subcutaneously inj…