Weight-Loss Drugs Could Also Boost Heart Health

As our nation grapples with rising health problems and obesity rates, weight-loss medications have soared in popularity, offering an effective way to shed pounds. These drugs could also end up playing a key role in managing cardiovascular disease.

So far, these medications (several have been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration) have primarily targeted obesity and diabetes. Losing weight lowers your risk for a wide range of conditions, including diabetes, stroke, osteoarthritis and some cancers. Now, evidence is mounting that there may be direct benefits for your heart.

There have been big improvements with a range of cardiac surgeries and advanced heart failure procedures in recent years. But the incidence of heart disease continues to rise, and preventive cardiology needs new weapons to combat this epidemic.

That’s where weight loss drugs might play a role. Recent research shows these medications can have direct benefits for your heart. Ongoing research is investigating how these medications can have potential benefit in dementia, addiction, heart failure, osteoarthritis, fatty liver/cirrhosis and neurodegenerative disorders.

What are the Potential Heart Benefits?

There is no easy fix for cardiovascular disorders, including heart attacks, heart failure and stroke. There are multiple risk factors involved, including smoking, obesity, diabetes, hypertension and high cholesterol.

In recent decades, we’ve had significant success at cutting smoking rates and improved diabetes and cholesterol management. But the same cannot be said for obesity (a major contributor to other risk factors), with more than half of the world’s population projected to be obese by 2035.

Public education efforts have helped with smoking, but it has proven more difficult to convince people to lose weight. Despite a desire and good intentions, patients struggle to maintain a diet program and keep off weight. In some cases, bariatric surgery is an option – but not on the scale needed for a mass societal change.

As the use of weight-loss medications increases, it stands to reason that there will be accompanying heart benefits. After all, when you lose weight, you generally improve several key cardiovascular risk factors.

But we are learning that these drugs may offer heart protection, separate from the weight loss benefits, including a significant reduction in cholesterol levels. A 2023 study showed that Semaglutide reduced the risk of death from heart disease, non-fatal heart attack and non-fatal stroke.  Another recent study has shown a substantial heart failure reduction with tirzepatide. Tirzepatide has also demonstrated significant improvement in sleep apnea that has indirect cardiovascular benefits.

With evidence of heart benefits mounting, the FDA earlier this year specifically approved semaglutide as a treatment option for overweight people with heart disease. More heart benefits are anticipated, and preventative cardiology will have new therapeutic options to promote cardiac wellness.

Top 10 Medical Breakthrough?

In medicine and science there are developments known as disruptive technologies – because of their potential to significantly alter patient care and survival. Looking back at medical history, consider these developments:

• Anesthesia: The development of this pain-relieving technology allowed doctors to attempt surgeries and procedures that would be otherwise impossible.
• Antibiotics: The discovery of penicillin in 1928 ushered in a new era of antibiotics, which transformed the treatment of infectious diseases.
• X-Rays: The discovery of medical applications of X-rays helped the development of modern diagnostic techniques including CT scans and PET Scans.
• Statins: Another big heart breakthrough, the development of statins has significantly reduced deaths by heart attack and stroke.

It’s still early in the development and use of weight-loss drugs for cardiovascular health, but they have the potential to significantly improve heart disease management. The wide swath of large medical problems that can potentially be helped by these weight loss medications might mean another top 10 medical breakthrough on our hands.

What Are Financial Implications?

Weight loss drugs have been around for a while, after being developed initially to treat diabetes. The downside is that these treatments are currently expensive and not covered by all insurance providers. Production is also not at a sufficient level to meet demand. But as time passes, new drugs (including generics) will be developed. Prices are unlikely to stay high for long – with more companies developing similar drugs and established players expanding their production facilities.