Research suggests that the appetite suppressing drug semaglutide could transform treatment for many with the cardiac condition, which affects a million people in Britain
Weight loss jabs are the first treatment shown to reverse heart failure.
Research suggests that the appetite suppressing drug semaglutide could transform treatment for many with the cardiac condition, which affects a million people in Britain. Tests showed it is three times better than any other treatment at impÂÂroving symptoms such as shortness of breath and fatigue. The results are the first to show that heart failure symptoms can be reversed.
Sold under brand names incÂÂluding Wegovy, the findings suggest it could dramatically improve quality of life for patients with a form of heart failure called preserved ejection fraction, which affects half of sufferers. Lead investigator Dr Mikhail Kosiborod, of Saint Luke’s Mid America Heart Institute, in Kansas City, US, said: “To our knowledge, this is the first trial of a pharmacologic agent to specifically target obesity as a treatment strategy for HFpEF, and the magnitude of the benefits we observed is the largest seen. This will likely have a significant impact on clinical practice.”
Unveiled at the European Society of Cardiology congress in Amsterdam, the randomised, double-blinded clinical trial â the gold standard â included 529 patients from 13 countries with a BMI of more than 30 and an average age of 69. One group was given a once-weekly jab for a year and the other was given a placebo. Body weight for those on the drugs dropped by 13.3% compared to 2.6%.