And so, another working week will soon draw to a close. Not a moment too soon, yes? This is, you may recall, our treasured signal to daydream about weekend plans. Our agenda, so far, is rather modest. We plan to promenade with the official mascots, spend time with our Pharmalot ancestor, and catch up on our reading. With any luck, we will also find time for another listening party, where the rotation is likely to include this, this, this, this and this. And what about you? Summer is rapidly nearing an end, but there is still time to enjoy the great outdoors. Remember, beaches, lakes, and hiking trails are beckoning. This may also be an opportunity to sample new eateries or catch up on your reading, or perhaps, simply plan the rest of your life. Well, whatever you do, have a grand time. But be safe. Enjoy, and see you on Tuesday, since this is a holiday weekend on this side of the pond. …
Novo Nordisk’s obesity drug Wegovy cut the risk of severe complications in patients with a common form of heart failure, according to a new analysis that could boost the company’s efforts to expand the label for the blockbuster treatment, STAT writes. Researchers combined data on nearly 4,000 patients across four trials who had heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (or HFpEF) and found that 5.4% of those treated with Wegovy experienced cardiovascular-related death or heart failure events, compared with 7.5% of those who received placebo. This translated to a 31% risk reduction. On heart failure events, defined as hospitalizations or urgent care visits, Wegovy cut the risk by 41%. On cardiovascular-related deaths, it reduced the rate by 18%, but this result was not statistically significant.
Meanwhile, Wegovy demonstrated still another benefit to patients in a study that found, compared to placebo, the medicine cut the chances of dying from Covid-19 by roughly a third, STAT notes. Given that obesity is a major risk factor for severe Covid outcomes, it perhaps seems obvious that a medicine that helps people lose weight also helps protect them from the worst tolls of a SARS-CoV-2 infection. But researchers say it might not be as straightforward as that. “All of that just means somebody is in a better state when they get hit by a medical disaster like a severe Covid infection,” said Benjamin Scirica, a cardiovascular medicine specialist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, who presented the data Friday at the European Society of Cardiology’s annual meeting in London.
