wegovy Shows Greater Cardiovascular benefit Then Tirzepatide in Real-world Study

MADRID – A new study presented at the european Society of Cardiology (ESC) Congress 2025 in MADRID, Spain, suggests that Wegovy^® (semaglutide) 2.4 mg may offer greater cardiovascular benefits compared to tirzepatide in individuals with overweight or obesity and established cardiovascular disease (CVD) without diabetes.

The STEER study, a real-world analysis, found that Wegovy^® was associated with a significant 57% greater risk reduction for heart attack, stroke, and cardiovascular-related death or death from any cause, compared to tirzepatide, in people with overweight or obesity and CVD, who consistently adhered to the treatment (no treatment gaps more than 30 days). The study recorded 15 (0.1%) of these cardiovascular events with Wegovy^® and 39 events (0.4%) with tirzepatide.The average follow-up duration was 3.8 months for the Wegovy^® group and 4.3 months for the tirzepatide group.

The study also found that in all treated people, regardless of gaps in treatment, Wegovy^® showed a significant 29% risk reduction for heart attack, stroke, and death from any cause compared with tirzepatide (over an average follow-up of 8.3 months for wegovy^® and 8.6 months for tirzepatide). There were 56 (0.5%) of these cardiovascular events recorded with Wegovy^® and 83 events (0.8%) with tirzepatide.

“In the STEER study, patients using Wegovy^® had greater cardiovascular improvements compared to tirzepatide, indicating that the same CV benefit cannot be generalized across other molecules in the GLP-1 or GIP/GLP-1 classes and may come specifically from the semaglutide molecule,” said Anna Windle, Senior Vice President, Clinical Progress, Medical and Regulatory Affairs. “Real-world studies, like STEER, provide us with significant insights into how treatments may serve patients outside of controlled clinical trials as we continue to learn more about the benefits of Wegovy^® beyond weight management.”

Key Findings of the STEER Study

the STEER study, presented at the ESC Congress 2025, provides compelling evidence regarding the cardiovascular benefits of Wegovy^® compared to tirzepatide in a real-world setting.The study focused on individuals with overweight or obesity and established CVD but without diabetes.

in addition to the primary findings,the study also revealed that people treated with Wegovy^® experienced fewer events of heart attack,stroke,and cardiovascular-related death than people treated with tirzepatide,regardless of treatment gaps.

“Patients using Wegovy^® had greater cardiovascular improvements compared to tirzepatide.”

Important Safety Data

Notably semaglutide injection 2.4 mg contains a Boxed Warning for possible thyroid tumors, including cancer, and shoudl not be used in those with a personal or family history of medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC) or Multiple Endocrine Neoplasia syndrome type 2 (MEN 2). The most common side effects include nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, constipation, stomach (abdomen) pain, headache, tiredness (fatigue), upset stomach, dizziness, feeling bloated, belching, low blood sugar in people with type 2 diabetes, gas, stomach flu, heartburn, and runny nose or sore throat.

About the STEER Study

The STEER study was a retrospective, observational real-world study evaluating the efficacy of Wegovy^® (semaglutide) 2.4 mg versus tirzepatide in lowering the risk of MACE in US adults with overweight or obesity and established CVD with no prior history of diabetes. The primary outcome measure was revised 5-point MACE (heart attack, stroke, hospitalization for heart failure, coronary revascularization, and death from any cause) and revised 3-point MACE (heart attack, stroke, and death from any cause).Non-revised 5-point and 3-point MACE was also studied, which included cardiovascular-related death rather than death from any cause.

The study included people from the US Komodo Research database (January 1, 2016, to January 31, 2025) aged ≥45 years and started treatment with Wegovy^® or tirzepatide on or after May 13, 2022. Each treatment group comprised 10,625 people. To ensure both groups were comparable, researchers used propensity score matching to compare Wegovy^® users and tirzepatide users with similar characteristics.After matching, characteristics were well-balanced between the treatment groups.

The main analysis included all people who started treatment, regardless of any gaps in their therapy, while a sensitivity analysis evaluated outcomes only in people who did not have any gaps in their treatment lasting more than 30 consecutive days.

About the SELECT Trial and SCORE Real-world Study

SELECT was a randomized, double-blind, parallel-group, placebo-controlled trial designed to evaluate the efficacy of Wegovy^® (semaglutide) 2.4 mg versus placebo as an adjunct to standard of care for the prevention of MACE in people with overweight or obesity and established CVD with no prior history of diabetes. People included in the trial were aged ≥45 years with a body mass index (BMI) of ≥27 kg/m².

The primary objective of the SELECT trial was to demonstrate the superiority of Wegovy^® compared to placebo with respect to reducing the incidence of 3-point MACE consisting of cardiovascular death, non-fatal heart attack (myocardial infarction), or non-fatal stroke.

SCORE was a real-world study in the US that analyzed MACE outcomes among Wegovy^® (semaglutide) 2.4 mg users and non-users in real-world clinical practice who met similar inclusion criteria as in the SELECT trial and were aged ≥45 years with overweight or obesity and established CVD without diabetes.

About Wegovy^®

Wegovy^® (semaglutide) injection 2.4 mg is an injectable prescription medicine used with a reduced calorie diet and increased physical activity:

• to reduce the risk of major cardiovascular events such as death, heart attack, or stroke in adults with known heart disease and with either obesity or overweight
• that may help adults and children aged 12 years and older with obesity, or some adults with excess weight (overweight) who also have weight-related medical problems to lose excess body weight and keep the weight off

Wegovy^® contains semaglutide and should not be used with other semaglutide-containing products or other GLP-1 receptor agonist medicines.

It is not known if Wegovy^® is safe and effective:

• to reduce the risk of major cardiovascular events (death, heart attack, or stroke) in children under 18 years
• for the treatment of long-term weight loss in children under 12 years

References

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