Is semaglutide the new 'statin' for preventing heart attacks?
Is semaglutide the new 'statin' for preventing heart attacks?
By Maryanne Demasi, PhD and Robert DuBroff, MD
Popular weight loss drugs such as Ozempic and Wegovy (semaglutide) have taken the world by storm and are now in short supply.
In May 2024, the US Food and Drug Administration approved a new indication for semaglutide, to prevent heart attacks and strokes in overweight or obese people with established heart disease.
Now, cardiologists are saying that prescribing semaglutide to prevent heart disease will become as “routine” as prescribing cholesterol-lowering statins.
“Semaglutide, and drugs like it, are a game-changer for treating heart disease,” said Jason Kovacic, a cardiologist at Sydney’s Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute.
“In the future when they are off-patent, cheap and widely available, taking a drug like Ozempic may become as routine as taking a statin,” he added.
John Deanfield from University College London agrees. He says semaglutide should be “routinely prescribed” to treat heart disease, and that millions in the UK could be taking the drug within a few years.