Weight loss drug tirzepatide reduces deaths from heart failure

The weight-loss drug tirzepatide offers significant benefits in the management of diastolic heart failure, a new study suggests.

The weight loss and diabetes drug tirzepatide can reduce the risk of heart failure, preserving heart pump function, and reducing the risk of death or worsening heart failure in patients with obesity, a new UVA Health study finds.

The drug, from pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly and Co., was tested in the SUMMIT clinical trial at 146 sites in the United States and abroad. A total of 731 patients with diastolic heart failure and a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or higher were randomized to receive injections of either tirzepatide or a harmless placebo. The researchers then followed the patients for a median of two years.

During that time, 56 patients who received a placebo died or their heart failure worsened, compared with just 36 patients who received tirzepatide. In addition, tirzepatide recipients were more likely to lose weight, losing an average of 11.6% of their body weight.

“This class of drugs continues to show benefits that extend well beyond weight loss,” said researcher Christopher Kramer, MD, PhD, chief of cardiovascular medicine at UVA Health. “This drug will be an important weapon in the arsenal for patients with obesity-related heart failure who have preserved heart function.”

obesity and heart failure

Diastolic heart failure, also known as heart failure with preserved ejection fraction, is a condition in which the left ventricle of the heart becomes stiff and unable to pump blood properly. This form of heart failure accounts for nearly half of all heart failure cases. (Heart disease in general is the leading cause of death in the United States, with one in five people dying from heart disease and someone dying every 33 seconds.)

Because obesity is a major factor in heart failure, Kramer and his co-investigators on the SUMMIT trial wanted to see if tirzepatide, a weight-loss drug already approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration, could help.

The trial found that tirzepatide had significant benefits in managing diastolic heart failure, reducing deaths, preventing hospitalizations, and generally the health and quality of life of recipients. For example, recipients improved how far they could walk in 6 minutes and significantly improved biological indicators used to measure inflammation and predict risk of serious cardiovascular events. I found that it has decreased.

Side effects seen in the tirzepatide group consisted of gastrointestinal disturbances such as nausea and diarrhea, which were mostly mild or moderate, researchers reported Saturday at the American Heart Association meeting in Chicago. did.

Tirzepatide findings

Kramer, an expert in cardiovascular imaging, also led a magnetic resonance imaging substudy examining how tirzepatide, sold under the brand name Zepbound, affects the structure and function of a recipient's heart. I did. Researchers found that both the mass of the left ventricle (the weight of the heart) and the amount of surrounding fatty tissue were beneficially reduced. Decreased LV mass correlated with decreased body weight and decreased left ventricular volume.

“This drug reverses the abnormal characteristics of the heart brought on by obesity,” Kramer said. “These drugs do more than just help you lose weight.”

These findings by Kramer and his fellow Summit researchers will be published in four separate manuscripts, including the New England Journal of Medicine, Nature Medicine, Circulation, and American Heart Association Journal, to coincide with the American Heart Conference in Chicago. Published in .

The phase 3 SUMMIT trial was sponsored by Eli Lilly.

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