Obesity drugs should be among primary options to prevent heart disease: cardiology experts

Shares of weight-loss drugmakers Novo Nordisk (NVO) and Eli Lilly (NYSE:LLY) spiked after the American College of Cardiology (ACC) recommended that obesity drugs should be among the primary options when selecting treatments to prevent heart disease.

In its newest Concise Clinical Guidance issued on Friday, the nonprofit medical association noted that obesity-linked heart diseases such as hypertension “can increasingly be addressed with modern obesity medications with fewer risks than procedure-based interventions.”

ACC’s latest guidelines contrasted with its previous recommendation of prioritizing lifestyle modifications before using weight loss medications, in a move that could potentially widen healthcare coverage for the GLP-1 blockbusters.

Listed health insurers: UnitedHealth (UNH), Humana (HUM), CVS Health (CVS), Cigna (CI), Clover Health (CLOV), Alignment Healthcare (ALHC), Centene (CNC), Molina Healthcare (MOH), and Elevance Health (ELV).

Novo Nordisk (NVO) has already received FDA approval for its weight loss therapy, Wegovy for the reduction of major adverse cardiovascular events such as heart attacks in obese or overweight people with established cardiovascular disease.

In August, Lilly (NYSE:LLY) said its rival therapy, tirzepatide, marketed as Zepbound for weight loss, cut the risk of heart failure outcomes with a statistically significant effect in a Phase 3 trial for adults with heart failure and obesity.

“Patients should not be required to ‘try and fail’ lifestyle changes prior to initiating pharmacotherapy,” ACC’s heart disease experts, led by Olivia Gilbert, a cardiologist at Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, wrote in the CGC report.

However, the ACC cautioned against abandoning lifestyle modifications altogether. “Lifestyle interventions should always be offered in conjunction with obesity medications,” Gilbert added.

“Weight management by the cardiovascular community needs to be embraced, given both the prevalence of obesity and the impact it has on many forms of [cardiovascular disease].”