Millions of Brits ‘should get Ozempic to slash their chances of heart attack and stroke’: Major study hails slimming jabs as biggest breakthrough since statins because drugs cut risk even in patients who don’t lose weight

Millions of people should be routinely prescribed weight loss jabs to slash their chances of heart attack and stroke in what has been hailed the biggest breakthrough since statins.

The largest ever study on the drugs found the key ingredient in Ozempic and Wegovy was a ‘game-changer’ for heart patients, including in those who did not lose weight.

In a ‘major breakthrough, it found the weekly shot cut their chances of dying and further attacks by a fifth – in addition to benefits from other medications.

Britain’s leading cardiologist said it was the most significant development in heart disease since the 1990s and will ‘change clinical practice’.

Professor John Deanfield, from University College London, said it conclusively proves semaglutide is not just an obesity drug as it ‘targets the underlying biology of chronic diseases’.

The findings suggest it could one day be used to help treat everything from cancer to kidney disease.

He told the European Congress on Obesity in Venice: ‘In the 90s when statins came in, we finally figured out that there was a class of drugs that would change the biology of this disease.

‘That was a major breakthrough to transform cardiology practice. We now have a class of drugs that could equally transform many chronic diseases of ageing.

‘We’re starting to see with this class of drugs that cardiovascular diseases – maybe other diseases we’re going to hear about in the next few months – get better with this drug.

‘There will be a lot of people who will benefit.’

The discovery is set to transform how the NHS treats heart disease with the new class of drugs, known as GLP-1 agonists, likely to be prescribed by the end of the decade.

Experts said they could be dished out to patients in the same way statins or blood pressure pills are given to millions now.

Around 8 million people in the UK have heart disease, which the British Heart Foundation estimates costs the UK economy £25 billion each year.

The SELECT trial involved 17,604 adults diagnosed heart problems who were overweight or obese from 41 countries, who took the medication over three years.

Given once weekly at the same dose as Wegovy, the jab was found to have the same heart health benefits to patients, regardless of their weight.

The group who took semaglutide had a 20 per cent lower risk of heart attack, stroke or death from heart disease, and typically lost around ten per cent of their body weight.

This effect was seen regardless of weight loss, suggesting the drugs target an underlying biological mechanism such as inflammation, which is linked to chronic diseases including cancer.

Doctors believe this could be due to mechanisms such as improvements to blood sugar, blood pressure or inflammation, as well as direct effects on the heart muscle and blood vessels.

Professor Deanfield, who is the first ever Government Champion for Personalised Prevention, said he will be recommending it to ministers, adding that its use would have to be approved by regulators.

About half of his heart disease patients have a body mass index above 27, putting them in the overweight category, and would benefit from semaglutide, he said.

Semaglutide could be prescribed as an additional treatment for heart problems alongside statins and blood pressure medication, with almost all of those in the trial already taking statins.

He added: ‘There’s much less resistance, I would argue, to these drugs than there is to still taking statins.

‘This is a real change in the way we help lots with a range of diseases, chronic diseases, which currently the NHS doesn’t treat very well.’

Manufactured by Novo Nordisk, semaglutide is the first in a new generation of anti-obesity drugs which work supress appetite by mimicking the hormone GLP-1.

Known as Ozempic, it was initially used to treat type 2 diabetes before later being repurposed as the weight loss drug, Wegovy, which is given at a higher dose.

Scientists believe the benefits of the drug extend beyond weight loss, with trials ongoing into illnesses including Parkinson’s and kidney disease.

Heart disease is one of the UK’s biggest killers, causing 68,000 deaths and more than 250,000 hospital admissions each year.

Professor Jason Halford, President of the European Association for the Study of Obesity, said the new research highlights how GLP-1 drugs will transform medical treatment over the next decade.

He said: ‘I think in the next 10 years we’ll see a radical change in the approach to healthcare.

‘Once the costs come down then the cost savings to the NHS will be significant.

‘There are already people in the Treasury thinking about the savings to the economy because of the opportunity to boost productivity. You need to get your workforce as fit as possible.’