Semaglutide, available under the brand names Wegovy and Ozempic, has been shown to reduce the risk of death in overweight individuals with cardiovascular disease, according to several studies.
While Wegovy is available through the National Health Service (NHS) for weight loss under specific criteria, Ozempic is currently prescribed only for type 2 diabetes—although both drugs contain semaglutide.
Research published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology (JACC) suggests that semaglutide may have “far-reaching benefits beyond what we initially imagined.” Professor Harlan M. Krumholz from the Yale School of Medicine, who is quoted in multiple reports, proposed: “Is it a fountain of youth?”
He further stated, “If you’re improving someone’s cardiometabolic health substantially, then you are putting them in a position to live longer and better. It’s not just avoiding heart attacks. These are health promoters. It wouldn’t surprise me if improving people’s health this way actually slows down the ageing process.”
The research found that participants who took semaglutide had a lower rate of death from all causes, including cardiovascular causes and COVID-19. The drug was also found to improve symptoms of heart failure.
The study involved 17,604 participants, all aged 45 or older, overweight, with established cardiovascular disease but not diabetes. They were tracked for over three years. During the study, 833 participants died, with 58% of the deaths attributed to cardiovascular causes and 42% to other reasons. Among the non-cardiovascular causes, infection was the most common.
