Novo says Wegovy drug helps obese people with heart failure in trial

[August 25, 2023]  By Ludwig Burger

(Reuters) -Novo Nordisk said its hugely popular drug Wegovy was shown to ease heart failure in obese people, as the Danish drugmaker seeks to further build its case for the medicine's health benefits beyond weight loss.

In a statement on Friday, the company said that after one year on Wegovy, participants in the late-stage study had a 16.6-point improvement on a 100-point health scale based on a range of heart failure-related criteria.

People in a parallel group without the treatment in the trial, known as STEP HFpEF, saw a 8.7 point improvement, resulting in an estimated net benefit from Wegovy of 7.8 points.

Novo this month raised the prospect of additional health benefits from taking Wegovy, apart from losing weight and cutting the risk of heart disease, as shown in a highly anticipated separate trial known as SELECT.

The Danish drugmaker also earlier this month published better-than-expected headline results from that study, which showed that the weekly injection cut the risk of heart attacks and strokes by 20%.

The STEP HFpEF trial, in turn, focused on a heart condition known as preserved ejection fraction, or HFpEF, which accounts for about half of all heart failure cases.

The company said in a presentation in June that the drug had "demonstrated superiority" in that trial.

A selection of injector pens for the Wegovy weight loss drug are shown in this photo illustration in Chicago, Illinois, U.S., March 31, 2023. REUTERS/Jim Vondruska/Illustration/File Photo/File Photo

Showing specific medical benefits is crucial for Novo's push to move Wegovy beyond its image as a lifestyle drug. Such data may help persuade insurers in the United States and cost-conscious health authorities in Europe to cover its cost for a wider range of patients.

It costs as much $1,300 a month in the U.S., without any coupons or rebates, and about 300 euros ($324) per month in Germany.

It is unclear, though, what conclusions regulators and physicians will draw from the STEP HFpEF results because other heart failure treatments are emerging.

Entresto by Novartis won U.S. approval for certain cases of HFpEF in 2021 and AstraZeneca's Farxiga was shown to help HFpEF patients according to trial results from late last year.

Novo Nordisk CEO Lars Fruergaard Jorgensen told a Reuters Newsmaker event on Friday the company planned to launch Wegovy in more countries, albeit in a "constrained" manner in order to meet huge demand.

($1 = 0.9266 euros)

(Reporting by Ludwig Burger Editing by Jason Neely and Mark Potter)

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