Miraculous diabetes shot Ozempic ‘halves symptoms of severe heart failure’ in ‘paradigm shift’ in the fight against deadly condition
- Semaglutide is the active ingredient in Ozempic
Miraculous diabetes shot Ozempic is being hailed as ‘a paradigm shift’ in the fight against fatal heart failure.
A study found that patients given semaglutide – the active ingredient in Ozempic – were half as likely to experience serious symptoms of the condition, including shortness of breath and fatigue.
Heart failure is an incurable long-term condition that causes the heart to no longer pump effectively.
It affects around a million Britons, often leaving them housebound and requiring regular hospital treatment – and one in five patients do not survive more than a year after diagnosis.
Semaglutide was originally developed as a diabetes treatment, but in recent years has become one of the world’s most sought-after weight-loss drugs after being shown to dramatically suppress appetite, with a host of celebrities including Elon Musk and Boris Johnson admitting to taking it take in an attempt to lose weight.
Elon Musk (pictured) admitted he took the medication in an attempt to lose weight
A study found that patients given semaglutide – the active ingredient in Ozempic – were half as likely to experience serious symptoms of the condition, including shortness of breath and fatigue.
The breakthrough in its use as a treatment for heart failure was announced yesterday at the American College of Cardiology conference in Atlanta.
The study involved diabetes patients, who are four times more likely to develop heart failure. However, experts hope that all patients with heart failure will one day benefit from it.
“Heart failure leaves patients unable to perform daily activities such as getting dressed and leaving the house due to debilitating symptoms,” Dr. Mikhail Kosiborod, a Kansas City cardiologist and author of the study, told The Mail on Sunday.
‘We found that semaglutide is significantly more effective at controlling these symptoms than any other treatment. This represents a paradigm shift for patients with heart failure.’
More than 4.3 million people in Britain have diabetes, a condition that causes blood sugar levels to become too high.
The majority of these have type 2 diabetes, which is usually caused by obesity.
Over time, dangerously high blood sugar levels can cause a range of health problems, including blindness and kidney failure, while around a fifth of patients develop heart failure.
Boris Johnson (pictured) is another public figure who has admitted to using the drug to lose weight
About 600 patients with type 2 diabetes and heart failure participated in the trial. Half received a weekly injection of 2.4 mg semaglutide for a year, while the others received a placebo.
After 12 months, those taking semaglutide were about half as likely to develop heart failure symptoms, lost significantly more weight and exercised more often.
There were also fewer deaths among those taking semaglutide, although experts say more research is needed to confirm this link.
Naveed Sattar, professor of cardiometabolic medicine at the University of Glasgow, said: ‘Until now, semaglutide has been classified as a diabetes and weight loss drug, but I expect NHS cardiologists to do so in the next year and a half. start prescribing it as a result of these findings.”