Large Study Finds GLP-1 Agonist Reduces COVID-19 Morbidity and Mortality

Dr Benjamin M. Scirica, Division of Cardiovascular Medicine and TIMI Study Group, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School and colleagues sought out to evaluate the impact of semaglutide 2.4 mg on all-cause death, cardiovascular (CV) death, and non-CV death, including subcategories of death and death from coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19).  The SELECT (Semaglutide Effects on Cardiovascular Outcomes in Patients With Overweight or Obesity) trial randomized 17,604 participants ≥45 years of age with a body mass index ≥27 kg/m² with established CV disease but without diabetes to once-weekly subcutaneous semaglutide 2.4 mg or placebo; the mean trial duration was 3.3 years. During this study the investigators captured prospectively adjudicated causes of all deaths, COVID-19 cases, and associated deaths.  Dr. Scirica and colleagues report that when compared to placebo, patients treated with semaglutide 2.4 mg had lower rates of all-cause death, driven similarly by CV and non-CV death. The lower rate of non-CV death with semaglutide was predominantly because of fewer infectious deaths. These findings highlight the effect of semaglutide on mortality across a broad population of patients with CV disease and obesity. (Semaglutide Effects on Cardiovascular Outcomes in Patients With Overweight or Obesity).

The Study