Investing.com -- Novo Nordisk A/S's (NYSE:NVO) weight-loss drug, Wegovy, has reduced deaths and illness from Covid-19, according to a large-scale study conducted during the pandemic, Bloomberg reported on Friday.
The study, published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, offers a detailed analysis of Novo’s extensive Wegovy trial, named Select.
At the time the pandemic began, the study had already enrolled over 17,600 participants with obesity—an established risk factor for severe Covid-19—and heart disease, the report said.
While insurers and policymakers have raised concerns over the high costs of weight-loss treatments, Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly & Co (NYSE:LLY), the maker of the competing drug Zepbound, are working to demonstrate that their expensive medications provide wide-ranging benefits that justify insurance coverage.
Results from the Select study last year revealed that patients using Wegovy had a 20% lower risk of a heart attack or stroke compared to those taking a placebo, which has subsequently facilitated broader insurance coverage.
The precise mechanisms by which Wegovy might have aided Covid-19 patients remain unclear.
According to Barry Popkin, a nutrition professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Gillings School of Global Public Health, the study “highlights the relationship between obesity and Covid disease severity,” although it is still uncertain whether this is due to factors like reduced lung capacity in obese individuals or other mechanisms such as decreased inflammation.
Initially, no one anticipated that Wegovy, which contains the active ingredient semaglutide, would reduce mortality from the virus, as noted by Donna Ryan, professor emeritus at Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, who contributed to the study.
However, the recent findings emphasize the drug’s extensive impact on metabolism and inflammation, both crucial in the body’s response to infections and other diseases.
“It’s not just weight loss, it’s not just diabetes,” said Ryan, a member of Novo’s steering committee for the Select trial, highlighting the broader effects of the drug. Meanwhile, Eli Lilly has initiated studies into the anti-inflammatory effects of Zepbound, with plans to explore its use in conditions like psoriasis. The market for drugs targeting inflammation, estimated at about $100 billion this year, is among the largest globally, as per the Bloomberg report.
The association between obesity and severe Covid-19 outcomes became evident early in the pandemic. A 2020 study led by Popkin found that individuals with obesity were more than twice as likely to be hospitalized with Covid-19, 74% more likely to require intensive care, and 48% more likely to die compared to those without obesity.
Additionally, in the first eight months of the pandemic, around 30% of Covid-19 hospitalizations involved patients with obesity, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In the Select study, 2.6% of participants who received Wegovy experienced severe Covid-related events or died, compared to 3.1% of those on a placebo. The study did not indicate that Wegovy prevents Covid-19 infections, as both groups had similar infection rates.
However, the reduction in Covid-19 deaths among those on Wegovy contributed to lower overall mortality rates in this group. Novo scientists continue to analyze the data for further insights into the drug’s effects.
These findings “underscore the transformative potential of targeting obesity” to mitigate a wide range of health risks, stated Harlan Krumholz, a professor at the Yale School of Medicine, the report said,