Novo Nordisk Weight Loss Drug Wegovy Cuts Waistlines — and Serious Heart Problems 20%
Key Takeaways
- A new obesity drug cut the risk of serious heart problems by 20% in a large trial
- Medicare does not cover weight loss drugs, but that might change with added heart benefits
- Novo shares are now at record highs
The new drug everyone is talking about today is Wegovy, made by Novo Nordisk. Wegovy was initially billed as a weight loss drug, but now the company is touting added health benefits. In an announcement on Tuesday, Novo Nordisk said that Wegovy cut the risk of heart attacks, strokes, and cardiovascular deaths by 20%.
Is it too good to be true? Is it about to be a lucrative medical breakthrough? We’ll take a closer look below.
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What happened in the clinical trial?
The Novo Nordisk trial included 18,000 adults with cardiovascular disease, which is a sizable sample, and makes this reported success huge news. The World Health Organization cites cardiovascular disease as the leading cause of death globally, so imagine the potential of a drug on the market that tackles so many heart ailments.
But we’re not clear on all the details yet. We still don’t know the effects of Wegovy on those different outcomes — its efficacy in preventing heart attacks versus strokes, for example. We also don’t know much about side effects, nor has any of this data been published in a medical journal. Novo Nordisk did say it would present more details later this year.
Until then, this early news at least introduces the possibility of a blockbuster drug for heart issues. Importantly, it also might make insurance companies more likely to pay for this weight loss drug if prescribed for cardiovascular disease.
Novo Nordisk stock is surging
The markets aren’t waiting for the peer reviewed journal. After the announcement on Tuesday, Novo Nordisk stock surged 17.2% to close at $189.17. Eli Lilly (which also makes a weight loss drug) saw its shares skyrocket 14.9% to close at 521.60. These were record highs for both companies.
Novo Nordisk has climbed nearly 38% this year. Meanwhile, the FDA approved Eli Lilly’s
Mounjaro diabetes medication last year, with an expectation that the drug will also be approved by the FDA for weight loss this fall.
The bottom line
Weight loss drugs have caused a frenzy, and it looks like their value is only increasing with added health benefits. We definitely want to capture the upside of this flurry of medical breakthroughs.
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