New research indicates the obesity drug Wegovy taken by Elon Musk and former UK prime minister Boris Johnson, cuts risk of cardiac failure by 20 percent in people with existing heart problems. 

The research in the large, international study is the first to document an obesity medication that can not only shed pounds, but also safely prevent a heart attack, stroke or heart-related deaths in people who have heart disease — but not diabetes.

The results were published Saturday in the New England Journal of Medicine and presented at a medical conference in Philadelphia. 

Experts say the findings can change the way doctors treat certain heart patients and shift perceptions that the new class of obesity drugs are cosmetic treatments - placing pressure on health insurers to cover them.

'It moves from a kind of therapy that reduces body weight to a therapy that reduces cardiovascular events,' Dr. Michael Lincoff, the study's lead author and a heart expert at the Cleveland Clinic, said to the Associated Press. 




New research indicates the obesity drug Wegovy taken by Elon Musk and former UK prime minister Boris Johnson , cuts risk of cardiac failure by 20 percent in people with existing heart problems











Tech mogul Elon Musk has lost about 30 pounds with the help of weight-loss injectables











Former British Prime Minister, 58, Boris Johnson wrote a Dailymail.com article in June, where he wrote about his experience on the weight loss medication

Wegovy is a high-dose version of the diabetes treatment Ozempic, which already has been shown to reduce the risk of serious heart problems in people who have diabetes. 

It is nearly the same as Ozempic, but Wegovy was explicitly approved to treat overweight and obesity, whereas Ozempic was initially cleared to help treat type 2 diabetes. 

The Tesla billionaire Elon Musk, 52, said last year that his secret to achieving a 'fit, ripped, and healthy' body is fasting, adding in a subsequent Tweet, 'And Wegovy.'

Before Wegovy's approval, doctors around the US were doling out prescriptions for Ozempic 'off label' at about a thousand dollars a pop.

Musk has not said consistently whether the medication he took was branded Wegovy or Ozempic, but both medications can cause major weight loss and a reduction of body fat.

He said in October that he had lost nearly 30lbs with the medication's help, in combination with fasting and 'no tasty food'.

Former British Prime Minister, 58, Boris Johnson  wrote about his experience on the weight loss medication in a Dailymail.com article in June. 

He explained how he had to stop taking the controversial, popular slimming drug as it made him ill.

'I must have been losing four or five pounds a week — maybe more — when all at once it started to go wrong. I don't know why, exactly,' he wrote. 'Maybe it was something to do with constantly flying around the world, and changing time zones, Neo Drops Erfahrung but I started to dread the injections, because they were making me feel ill.' 

It may not work for all but Johnson said he supports the medication for those it helps. 




The results were published Saturday in the New England Journal of Medicine and presented at a medical conference in Philadelphia 

'I see nothing morally wrong in using these drugs to help you lose weight, any more than it is wrong to use an electrically assisted bicycle to get up the hill. Even for us fatties, it turns out, there is such a thing as satiety — and science has found it.' 

The new study looked to see if the same was true in those who don't have that disease.

Experts have known for years that losing weight can improve heart health, but there hasn't been a safe and effective obesity medication proven to reduce specific risks, said Dr. Francisco Lopez-Jimenez, a heart expert at the Mayo Clinic. 

He expects the new findings to change treatment guidelines and 'dominate the conversation' for years to come.

'This is the population who needs the medicine the most,' said Lopez-Jimenez, who had no role in the study.

In the US, there are about 6.6 million people like those tested in the study, experts said.

Novo Nordisk, the maker of Wegovy and Ozempic, has asked the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to include the heart benefits on Wegovy's label, like on Ozempic's.

The new study, paid for by the company, included more than 17,500 people in 41 countries. 

Participants were age 45 and older, had a body mass index of 27 or higher and were tracked for more than three years on average. They took typical drugs for their heart conditions, but they were also randomly assigned to receive weekly injections of Wegovy or a dummy shot.