Ozempic May 'Slow Down the Aging Process'

Semaglutide, the active ingredient of Ozempic and Wegovy, has been painted as a miracle weight-loss drug, with evidence suggesting it also reduces risk of death and serious illness in people with diabetes and kidney disease. Now, a series of studies indicate semaglutide might do more than that. The drug "has far-reaching benefits beyond what we initially imagined," and "it wouldn't surprise me that improving people's health this way actually slows down the aging process," says Harlan Krumholz of the Yale School of Medicine, who edits the Journal of the American College of Cardiology where several new studies of semaglutide were published Friday, per the BBC.

More than 17,600 obese or overweight people with cardiovascular disease took part in the studies. Participants received semaglutide or a placebo and were tracked from October 2018 to March 2023, per a release. At the end of the study, death rates among the semaglutide group were 19% lower than among the placebo group. Semaglutide appeared to reduce deaths from cardiovascular disease by 15% and deaths from other causes by 23%. Surprisingly, those who took semaglutide also had a 33% lower chance of dying from COVID-19, CNBC reports. They also had a reduced risk of adverse cardiovascular outcomes and reduced levels of inflammation.

These findings "reinforce that [being] overweight and obesity increases the risk of death due to many etiologies ... which can be modified with ... therapies like semaglutide," says Benjamin Scirica, a Harvard professor of medicine and lead author of one of the studies, per the BBC. Though he cautions that further research is needed, Krumholz says he's beginning "to think about the weight loss almost as a side effect" of semaglutide, per CNBC. "I mean, these [drugs] are really promoting health." Researchers don't yet understand what benefit semaglutide provides beyond weight loss through the suppression of appetite, though they plan to investigate further. (Liraglutide, a drug similar to semaglutide, might slow Alzheimer's disease.)