- Semaglutide is the active ingredient in Ozempic
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The miracle diabetes vaccine Ozempic has been hailed as “a paradigm shift” in the battle against deadly heart failure.
One trial found that patients who received semaglutide, the active ingredient in Ozempic, were half as likely to suffer severe symptoms of the condition, such as shortness of breath and fatigue.
Heart failure is a long-term, incurable condition that causes the heart to stop pumping effectively.
It affects around a million Britons, often leaving them housebound and needing regular hospital treatment, with one in five patients not surviving more than a year from diagnosis.
Semaglutide was originally developed as a treatment for diabetes, but in recent years it has become one of the most in-demand weight loss drugs in the world after it was shown to dramatically suppress appetite, and a large number of Celebrities, including Elon Musk and Boris Johnson, admitted to taking it in a bid to lose weight.
Elon Musk (pictured) admitted to taking the drug to lose weight
A trial has found that patients who received semaglutide, the active ingredient in Ozempic, were half as likely to suffer severe symptoms of the disease, such as 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 trial involved diabetic patients, who are four times more likely to develop heart failure. However, experts hope that all heart failure patients will one day benefit from its use.
“Heart failure leaves patients unable to perform everyday activities, such as getting dressed and leaving the house, due to debilitating symptoms,” Dr. Mikhail Kosiborod, a Kansas City-based cardiologist and study author, told The Mail on Sunday.
“We have found that semaglutide is significantly more effective in combating these symptoms than any other treatment. This represents a paradigm shift for heart failure patients.’
More than 4.3 million people in the UK have diabetes, a condition that causes blood sugar levels to be too high.
Most of them suffer from type 2 diabetes, which is usually caused by obesity.
Over time, dangerously high blood sugar levels can cause a number of health problems, including blindness and kidney failure, while about a fifth of patients will develop heart failure.
Boris Johnson (pictured) is another well-known figure who admitted to taking the weight loss drug.
About 600 patients with type 2 diabetes and heart failure participated in the trial. Half received a weekly injection of 2.4 mg of semaglutide for a year, while the others received a placebo.
After 12 months, those taking semaglutide were about half as likely to have experienced symptoms of heart failure, lost significantly more weight, and exercised more frequently.
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 in the next year and a half I would expect NHS cardiologists to start to prescribe it as a result of these findings.