Miracle anti-obesity jab found to cut heart attack risk by 20% and maintain weight loss for years

And the benefits do not stop there: semaglutide can sustain weight loss for "up to four years", claims one professor, whose separate study on the long-term effects of the active ingredient is also being presented at the European Congress on Obesity (ECO) in Venice.

The two pieces of research used data from the Select trial, which was conducted by semaglutide manufacturer Novo Nordisk.

The five-year study explored if the drug could reduce the risk of heart attacks or stroke in obese people without diabetes.

It comprised 17,604 adults over the age of 45 from 41 countries.

Professor John Deanfield, of University College London (UCL) and his team examined the amount of time before patients suffered major cardiovascular events – such as heart attack or stroke – or whether they developed heart failure.

After 20 weeks of being on semaglutide, 62 percent of patients had lost more than five percent of their bodyweight compared with 10 percent in the placebo group.

However, the risk reduction of heart attacks, stroke or heart failure was similar in patients who lost more than five percent of their bodyweight and in those who lost less than five percent, or gained weight.

Prof Deanfield said the findings “have important clinical implications”.

“Around half of the patients that I see in my cardiovascular practice have levels of weight equivalent to those in the Select trial and are likely to derive benefit from taking semaglutide on top of their usual level of guideline-directed care,” he added.

“Our findings show that the magnitude of this treatment effect with semaglutide is independent of the amount of weight lost, suggesting that the drug has other actions which lower cardiovascular risk beyond reducing unhealthy body fat.

“These alternative mechanisms may include positive impacts on blood sugar, blood pressure or inflammation, as well as direct effects on the heart muscle and blood vessels, or a combination of one or more of these.”

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In August, researchers working on the Select trial found semaglutide reduced the risk of a heart attack or stroke in obese people with cardiovascular disease by a fifth.

A 2.4mg once-weekly dose of Wegovy, alongside standard care for the prevention of heart attacks or stroke, lowered the risk by 20 percent compared with those given a placebo.

Prof Deanfield’s study is one of two pieces of research based on the Select trial that are being presented at the European Congress on Obesity (ECO) in Venice.

The second, led by Professor Donna Ryan, of Pennington Biomedical Research Centre in New Orleans, looked at the long-term effect of semaglutide on weight.

She said weight loss using semaglutide “can be sustained for up to four years” in adults who are overweight or obese, without diabetes.

Patients on semaglutide lost an average 10.2 percent of their body weight and 7.7cm from their waistline compared with 1.5 percent and 1.3cm respectively in the group given a placebo.

After two years, some 52 percent of people treated with semaglutide had moved down to a lower BMI category compared with 16 percent in the placebo group.

Prof Ryan added: “This degree of weight loss in such a large and diverse population suggests that it may be possible to impact the public health burden of multiple obesity-related illnesses.

“While our trial focused on cardiovascular events, many other chronic diseases including several types of cancer, osteoarthritis, and anxiety and depression would benefit from effective weight management.”