At the American College of Cardiology’s 73rd Annual Scientific Session, a study from the Gardy Health system in Atlanta, Georgia, US was presented investigating the rates of heart failure hospitalizations (HFH) in heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) patients and diabetes patients on semaglutide. Semaglutide is a glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist (GLP-1RA) developed by Novo Nordisk, sold as Ozempic for type 2 diabetes (T2D), Wegovy for obesity, and Rybelsus (in an oral form) for T2D. Based on its increasing use in T2D and obesity, as well as data to support its use to treat HF, semaglutide will continue to be the market-leading GLP-1RA and will experience significant growth in market sales, particularly towards the end of the decade, says GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

Akash Patel, Pharma Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “Due to its highly efficacious clinical data in weight loss, the drug has achieved significant uptake from patients and physicians, becoming the leading GLP-1RA in the T2D and obesity markets. Semaglutide has been shown to reduce symptoms and increase weight loss in patients with HFpEF.”

The potential for SGLT-2I therapies to treat HF with or without T2D remains significantly promising and the data from this recent study, presented at ACC 24 demonstrating improvement in HF hospitalization rates, is consistent with other studies in populations using SGLT-2Is in T2D and CKD.

Patel concludes: “There is an increasing amount of strong clinical data that demonstrate the role of semaglutide in treating T2D, obesity, HF, and chronic kidney disease, suggesting that it is likely to become an important therapy in the increasing prevalence of metabolic syndrome.”