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Context:

Scientists conducted the SOUL trial to test semaglutide.

News in Detail

A new study shows that semaglutide, a medicine used for diabetes and weight loss, can reduce the risk of heart attacks, strokes, and other heart problems by 14%.  

What Is Semaglutide?

Semaglutide is a drug used to treat type 2 diabetes and help people lose weight. It works by mimicking a hormone in the body that lowers blood sugar and helps control appetite.

Recent Study

The study, called SOUL, tested semaglutide against a fake pill (placebo) in over 9,650 people worldwide, including 788 people in India across 32 centers.

The study focused on semaglutide oral form, called Rybelsus , which patients take as a pill.

Researchers wanted to study if semaglutide could lower the chances of major heart problems like heart attacks, strokes, or death caused by heart disease.

What they discovered?

• Semaglutide cuts the risk of major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE), such as heart attacks, strokes, or cardiovascular death.
• It works well even when combined with other diabetes medicines, like SGLT2 inhibitors, making treatment more effective.
• The benefits were clear for everyone—whether they were already taking other heart medications or not.

Significance

The National Family Health Survey (2019-21) reported that nearly nearly 23% of women and 22.1% of men are overweight as per the BMI criterion. In terms of abdominal obesity, 40% of women and 12% of men are abdominally obese in the country.

In 2021, over 100 million Indians had diabetes. Many also struggle with being overweight or having high cholesterol. These conditions increase the risk of heart problems. A medication like semaglutide is important—it helps tackle both diabetes and heart disease at the same time.

Source: 

THE HINDU