The weight loss and type 2 diabetes drugs semaglutide and tirzepatide could slash the risk of patients with a type of heart failure being hospitalised, research shows.
The jabs are sold under and more commonly known by their brand names Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro.
Experts compared the drugs to sitagliptin, a medication used to manage blood sugar in people with type 2 diabetes, for patients with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF).
Heart failure happens when the heart is unable to pump blood around the body properly, usually because it has become too weak or stiff.
However, HFpEF is a specific type of the condition which happens when the heart muscle does not relax properly to fill with blood, despite having a normal pumping function.
It is estimated that half the one million people with heart failure in the UK have HFpEF.
For the study, experts looked at US healthcare claims data from 2018 to 2024.
The analysis included 58,333 patients in the semaglutide vs sitagliptin group and 11,257 in the tirzepatide vs sitagliptin group.
Semaglutide and tirzepatide are GLP-1 agonists, a type of medication which helps lower blood sugar levels, slows the digestion of food and can reduce appetite.
Tirzepatide – or Mounjaro – is used on the NHS for type 2 diabetes and weight management.
Semaglutide is sold under brand names Ozempic and Wegovy, which are jabs, and Rybelsus, which is taken as a pill.
Ozempic and Rybelsus are available on the NHS as an option for people with type 2 diabetes, while Wegovy is used to manage obesity.
Researchers found semaglutide and tirzepatide slashed the risk of patients with HFpEF ending up in hospital or dying from any cause by more than 40 per cent.
Semaglutide was associated with a 42 per cent lower risk, while tirzepatide was associated with a 58% lower risk compared with sitagliptin.
Writing in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), researchers said: “These findings complement early results from small clinical trials and support the use of semaglutide and tirzepatide in patients with cardiometabolic heart failure with preserved ejection fraction.”
Meanwhile, experts also carried out a head-to-head comparison of tirzepatide and semaglutide using data from 28,100 patients.
They said tirzepatide “showed no meaningful benefit” over semaglutide.
The findings are being presented at the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) Congress in Madrid.
