Novo Nordisk's (NVO.US) "miracle weight loss drug" has another surprise! Latest research: Semaglutide can reduce COVID-19 mortality

Research has found that people taking the key components of the heavyweight weight loss drugs Ozempic and Wegovy are less likely to die from or suffer ill effects of COVID-19, according to a new study.People already taking the 2.4mg dose of semaglutide, the active ingredient in Ozempic and Wegovy, still caught the virus but the risk of dying from it was reduced by 33%, according to a group of studies published by the Journal of the American College of Cardiology on Friday.The papers also showed that semaglutide, beyond its previously established ability to reduce the risk of heart attacks and strokes, may have a wide range of health benefits. In an interview with JACC, co-author Benjamin Scirica said that in his own study, patients taking semaglutide had a 29 per cent reduction in deaths from non-cardiac causes, and added that weight did not seem to be a “major mediator” of the findings.The large study, which was conducted before the pandemic and ran through it, involved more than 17,600 people who were overweight or obese and had heart disease but no diabetes.Other studies published by JACC on Friday showed that semaglutide improved symptoms related to heart failure, inflammation and many other functions, and reduced the death rate among patients with chronic kidney disease.The findings further bolster the value of Novo Nordisk, whose market capitalisation has been boosted by the widespread use of treatments based on semaglutide. The Danish drugmaker has risen to become Europe’s most valuable company as it competes fiercely with rivals such as Eli Lilly in the weight loss space.New benefits from semaglutide could open up further applications for the drug.In discussing the papers on Friday, Harlan Krumholz, a professor of medicine at Yale University School of Medicine and an editor of JACC, said: “I started to think that weight loss was almost a side effect, I mean these [drugs] do promote health.”He added: “I was mainly thinking about heart metabolic health . . . but [semaglutide] may have other mechanisms that make us healthier. In some way, it has helped us resist some of the ill effects of covid.”However, Mr Krumholz said that further research was needed into the effects of semaglutide.Not all the side effects of weight loss drugs are positive, according to a study this year by Harvard Medical School, which found that some drugs could increase the risk of a rare eye disease.