The potential of semaglutide is only beginning to be understood. (Photo: Getty)
Taking a weight-loss drug could provide a “fountain of youth” that fights the underlying causes of a number of diseases, researchers have predicted. Groundbreaking research presented at the world’s largest cardiology conference on Friday offered new evidence of the countless health effects of drugs.
Studies found they could provide a lifeline for previously untreated high blood pressure, reverse the progression of kidney disease, prevent heart failure and reduce Covid deaths.
Yale University professor Dr. Harlan Krumholz is editor-in-chief of the Journals of the American College of Cardiology, which published several of the papers presented. He said the “significant” drugs are poised to revolutionize heart care and may even slow biological aging, allowing people to “live longer and better”.
The American expert added: “This is an anti-obesity drug, but to be honest, you could only think of it as a health-promoting drug or, in the case of these studies, a heart drug.
“It’s a multipurpose drug. The evidence excites me. It’s an important turning point in medicine that we have a tool like this that can promote health.”
READ MORE: Weight loss is not a quick fix for getting beach body ready, top NHS document warns
Weight loss suits containing semaglutide have been hailed as a game changer (Photo: Getty)
More than 30,000 cardiologists from all over the world gathered in London this week for the annual congress of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC). Presentations of slimming injections containing semaglutide were the most hotly anticipated.
The drugs belong to a class known as GLP-1 receptor agonists. Developed to treat type 2 diabetes, they are now showing promise against a variety of conditions, including chronic kidney disease, Parkinson’s disease, and even cancer.
The way they work is not yet fully understood. Weight loss has obvious benefits, but studies have shown that patients who do not lose significant weight can also see improvements in their health.
The leading theory is that the injections reduce inflammation. Inflammation is a normal part of the body’s immune response to injury or infection, but it is thought to increase the risk of many diseases, from arthritis and dementia to cancer and bowel disease.
A landmark study of 1,400 patients presented at a conference found that taking semaglutide dramatically reduced levels of inflammation in the body, independent of weight loss.
Dr. Krumholz said, “We know that obesity itself can raise inflammation in your body. I think of it like a thermostat — some people walk around with higher baseline inflammation.
“These drugs somehow silence the inflammation, something happens in the immune system.”
Don’t miss…
Eating dark chocolate “helps reduce the risk of obesity and diabetes” [LATEST]
A crisis in the NHS, with the UK having one of the worst rates of hospital care, awaits among wealthy countries [HEALTH]
Chronic inflammation is also a hallmark of aging. Asked if the drugs could turn back the human biological clock, Dr. Krumholz replied, “Is it the fountain of youth?
“I would say that if you significantly improve someone’s cardiometabolic health, you help them live longer and better.
“There are measures of how quickly we age biologically, and it wouldn’t surprise me that improving people’s health in this way actually slows down the aging process.”
Earlier this year, experts suggested weight-loss shots could be as game-changing as statins in heart care after a study showed they cut overweight or obese patients’ risk of dying from a heart attack or stroke by a fifth.
The latest research from the ESC Congress revealed that drugs can also boost people’s ability to fight off infectious diseases.
A study of 17,000 patients found that those who took semaglutide before the pandemic and contracted Covid were 34 percent less likely to die compared to those who did not.
Study leader Dr. Jeremy Samuel Faust of Harvard Medical School said the effect was “vaccine-like” and could apply to many other infections.
Dr. Krumholz added: “We already knew that during the pandemic, people who were most at risk were people who had diabetes, people who were obese, people who had metabolic disorders.
“But I don’t think we could have dreamed that treating obesity would reduce the risk from the virus.”
In another study of more than 100 people with treatment-resistant high blood pressure, 26 percent of those taking semaglutide were able to quit or reduce their other blood pressure medications.
Researcher Dr Cormac Kennedy, from Trinity College Dublin, said: ‘Semaglutide has worked where other drugs have failed.
“Patients with resistant hypertension are on three, four, five drugs. These are high-risk people with heart attacks and strokes. They are very difficult to treat.”
And in an additional study of more than 3,000 chronic kidney disease patients, those who received weekly semaglutide injections had a 29 percent reduction in the risk of dying from heart attacks or strokes over three years.
For many obesity-related diseases, semaglutide-based drugs are a treatment option that can address the root causes rather than just the consequences, Dr. Krumholz added.
“I think what happens if I see a patient with hypertension in the clinic [high blood pressure] and obesity, I should treat their obesity first because I may not need to treat hypertension anymore, it may go away.
“I think we have a choice. You can either treat the manifestations of obesity, or you can go straight to treating obesity. And we may think we’re treating obesity, but these drugs actually work in other ways as well.
Weight loss treatments such as Wegovy are currently available on the NHS for patients with a BMI of over 30 (obese) or over 27 (overweight) with weight-related health problems, while Ozempic is only licensed to treat diabetes.
The Yale professor predicted the drugs would become available in pill form within a few years, and suggested their success raises questions about whether their use should be expanded.
He added: “The fact that the benefit spans different levels of weight loss calls into question whether these drugs should be reserved for people with the most severe forms of obesity. It has the potential to really improve population health.”
Leading British cardiologist Professor John Deanfield of University College London said it was “very exciting” to think that these drugs could “change the course and outcome of a number of diseases”.
Don’t miss…
A huge spike in pre-diabetes when high blood sugar causes a ticking time bomb [LATEST]
Dangerously obese people are being offered a powerful new weight loss treatment on the NHS [OBESITY]
He added: “We’re waiting to see what it does to dementia and other diseases. These are diseases of aging that we all want to avoid.
“They’re going to stop being weight-loss drugs with all the lifestyle drug controversies, and they’re going to be drugs that target diseases, in a different category. That’s incredibly exciting.”
Consultant cardiologist Dr Sonya Babu-Narayan, deputy medical director of the British Heart Foundation, described the drugs as “game changers”.
He said: “Cardiovascular disease remains the world’s biggest killer. There is always reason to celebrate when an effective new treatment is discovered.
“Studies show that semaglutide can not only lead to significant weight loss, but is also effective in saving and improving the lives of people with heart disease.
“New research helps to clarify the different mechanisms of action behind the observed cardiovascular benefits – from weight loss itself, to improving metabolism and inflammation regulation or fat distribution. This could be a game changer for patients with various heart conditions.
These drugs are not only anti-obesity agents, says Dr. NEHA PAGIDIPATI
Weight loss obviously caused a lot of excitement, but people didn’t necessarily realize the huge benefits these drugs can have on heart and kidney health as well.
What’s becoming increasingly clear is that even if a person doesn’t lose as much weight as they had expected or hoped for, that doesn’t necessarily mean they aren’t getting important health benefits, including cardiovascular and kidney benefits.
I don’t want to call these drugs “weight loss drugs”. Obesity is a disease process that is not just the “cause” of the patient, so I prefer to call them anti-obesity agents.
However, it is increasingly clear that calling semaglutide an anti-obesity agent underestimates its true potential. I would call it a substance that reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease and kidney disease.
We are only at the beginning of understanding these drugs. There are dozens of similar substances and dozens of experiments in preparation.
I have no doubt that this is the beginning of a new era.
Many people don’t have just one problem – they may have many problems that often go together, such as diabetes, obesity, heart failure, coronary heart disease, kidney disease, and so on.
Drugs that can address all of these things at once are truly the next frontier in medicine.
Even today, heart disease is the number one killer of people around the world.
These are exciting times, and as we find more drugs that help, it’s important that they reach the people who need them most.
– Dr. Neha Pagidipati is JACC Associate Editor and Cardiometabolic Disease Specialist at Duke Clinical Research Institute
