Novo Nordisk A/S’s blockbuster weight-loss drug Wegovy has relieved symptoms of heart failure in patients with diabetes in the latest large study to support the drug’s use to treat obesity-related health conditions.
Patients who took Wegovy reported less fatigue, less leg swelling, had less shortness of breath and were able to walk farther in six minutes than those who received a placebo, researchers reported Saturday in the New England Journal of Medicines. Wegovy patients also reported fewer serious medical problems.
The study is the latest in a series of large studies Novo is conducting to show that Wegovy can help people with a range of conditions, from knee arthritis to cardiovascular disease. The Danish drug company is using the findings to demonstrate that cost-conscious insurers should pay for the drug, which has a list price of about $1,350 a month in the United States.
The heart failure study published Saturday is part of a pair of studies examining heart failure with preserved ejection fraction, a condition that occurs when the heart’s lower chamber pumps less blood than the body needs . It affects about 3 million people in the United States and as many as 32 million people worldwide, with an annual mortality rate of about 15%, according to a study published last year in the medical journal JAMA.
Novo made the first results of the heart failure study public when it reported fourth-quarter earnings in January. The study in people with diabetes follows a similar study published last year in heart failure patients who had obesity, but not diabetes. The company submitted the results of both tests to U.S. and European regulators in January.
– With assistance from Madison Mulle