In a newly published study, Ozempic’s sister drug has been shown to cut heart risks.
Known as Rybelsus, the diabetes pill is a tablet version of the ultra-popular medication Ozempic. According to the Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk A/S, individuals with type 2 diabetes and pre-existing heart or chronic kidney disease, or all three illnesses, showed a 14% lower likelihood of suffering a cardiovascular event when compared to those who took a placebo, reported Bloomberg.
Novo is now seeking approval from regulators in the United States and Europe to begin circulating the medication for wider use beginning early in 2025.
This is not the first time these types of drugs have been linked to improved heart health.
Last year, The Dallas Express reported that semaglutide, sold under the brand names Ozempic and Wegovy, was effective at reducing the risk of heart attacks, strokes, and cardiovascular disease. The findings resulted from eight random clinical trials conducted by UT Southwestern Medical Center.
Additionally, another study reported on by The Dallas Express showed that medications like Wegovy and Ozempic, both containing the active ingredient semaglutide, may reduce drug and alcohol abuse by as much as 50%.
Diabetes afflicts about 2.6 million individuals in the Lone Star State, with hundreds of thousands of others undiagnosed.
News of the latest study will likely be welcome in North Texas, where diabetes has been on the rise. As detailed in The Dallas Express, doctors at Parkland Hospital warned of a surge in diabetes, in part blamed on the Covid-19 pandemic lockdowns.
The Rybelsus trial began in 2019, comparing the medication’s use with a placebo. Nearly 10,000 patients took part in the study, and almost half of them also took another diabetes drug called SGLT-2 inhibitors during the trial.
Being overweight is a critical factor that contributes to type 2 diabetes. In 2022, Dallas-Fort Worth ranked as the 19th most obese and overweight metro area in the country. One reason, says Isabella Ferrari of Doherty Nutrition, is the city does not encourage walking, so residents lack sufficient physical activity.
“We have a very sedentary lifestyle … Texas overall doesn’t have a lot of walkable cities… We just sit down and work all day. We don’t live in a city where we walk around,” she told The Dallas Express.
“We go from sitting down eight hours at our desk to sitting down in our car to commute. So, it’s just a lot of sitting, not a lot of walking,” Ferrari added.