UK drug watchdogs have approved the use of semaglutide, the main ingredient of Ozempic and Wegovy, for use as preventive drug for heart attacks and strokes.
The decision comes after scientists hailed the results of a trial which, earlier this year, showed patients on the medications slashed their chance of suffering these health problems by up to a fifth and called for their wider application.
Announcing the move, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) said the weekly jabs should now be offered to obese and overweight adults with cardiovascular disease as a ‘preventative treatment’.
It could open the door to millions of more Brits getting the fat-busting jabs.
The extension of the conditions that semaglutide can be prescribed for only applies to Wegovy, the formulation of the drug for weight-loss patients rather than Ozempic which remains specifically for diabetes,
UK drug regulators based their decision on biggest study yet on Ozempic and Wegovy which found their key ingredient was a ‘game-changer’ for heart patients, including those who did not lose weight
It is the first weight loss drug to be prescribed to prevent cardiovascular events, such as heart attacks and strokes.
Cardiovascular disease accounts for about a quarter of all deaths in UK, equivalent to 170,000 deaths a year or 480 each day.
The MHRA said conditions for being given Wegovy in these circumstances include having a body-mass-index of 27 or more, a reading which means someone is overweight, and established cardiovascular disease.
Currently people in the UK can only get Wegovy on the NHS if they have at least a BMI of 30 and health condition related to their weight such as high blood pressure.
The MHRA decision doesn’t mean the NHS will prescribe Wegovy on this new basis straight away.
A sperate body, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence I(NICE), must assess using Wegovy like this is cost-effective use of taxpayer funds.
NICE told MailOnline they expect to publish the results of that appraisal next summer.
MHRA officials based their decision on the back of clinical study of over 17,000 people which found those who got the weekly jab for up to five years had cut their risk of major adverse cardiovascular events by 20 per cent.
Shirley Hopper, MHRA deputy director of innovative medicines, said: ‘We’re assured that the appropriate regulatory standards of safety, quality and effectiveness for the approval of this medicine have been met.
‘This treatment option that prevents heart disease and strokes is an important step forward in tackling the serious health consequences of obesity.
’As with all medicines, we will keep its safety under close review.’
Professor Bryan Williams, chief scientific and medical officer at the British Heart Foundation, said: ‘Nearly two thirds of adults in England are living with excess weight or obesity.
‘Those that also have an established cardiovascular disease live with a very high risk that a serious event like a heart attack or stroke could happen.
’Several recent studies have shown us that semaglutide is an effective tool that can improve the quality of life for those with cardiovascular disease, including by lowering the risk of serious cardiac events.
Wegovy and Ozempic work by triggering the body to produce a hormone called GLP-1 that is released naturally from the intestines after meals
’It is important that people using the drug to lose weight and improve their health are given the support they need from healthcare professionals to maintain these improvements long into the future.
‘This means appropriate training and healthcare workforce development, along with policies to create a wider environment that supports everyone to stay as healthy as possible. Altogether, this can help save lives from the devastating impact of heart attacks and strokes.’
Ozempic and Wegovy are hormone mimicking jabs that trick the body into feeling full, helping people lose weight.
Losing weight already helps reduce the risk of heart attacks and strokes however, the reduction in risk observed in the clinical was also evident among patients who didn’t lose weight.
This suggests the drugs target an underlying biological mechanism that reduces the risk of such events.
Doctors believe this could be due to mechanisms such as improvements to blood sugar, blood pressure or inflammation, as well as direct effects on the heart muscle and blood vessels.
While semaglutide based drugs have been linked to a host of benefits, they, like any medication, carry side effects that vary in severity and frequency.
The most common of these are gastrointestinal disorders including nausea, diarrhoea, constipation and vomiting.