Novo Nordisk's Wegovy® cuts risk of heart attack, stroke or death by 57% compared to tirzepatide in real-world study of people with obesity and cardiovascular disease

• Compared with tirzepatide, Wegovy^® (semaglutide 2.4 mg) showed a significant 57% greater reduction in the risk of heart attack, stroke or death from any cause, in people with overweight or obesity and cardiovascular disease (CVD) who stayed on treatment¹
• Similarly, the study showed a significant 29% reduction in the risk for heart attack, stroke and death from any cause in the Wegovy^® users compared with tirzepatide users in all treated people, regardless of any gaps in their treatment¹
• This study adds to growing evidence suggesting that the heart-protective benefits seen with Wegovy^® are specific to the semaglutide molecule and therefore cannot be extended to other GLP-1 or GIP/GLP-1-based treatments¹

Dubai, 1 September 2025 – Novo Nordisk today presented data from the STEER real-world study of evidence gathered from actual patient experiences at the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) Congress 2025 in Madrid, Spain. The STEER study investigated the risk of major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) with Wegovy^® (semaglutide 2.4 mg) compared with tirzepatide treatment in people with overweight or obesity and established CVD without diabetes.¹

Compared with tirzepatide, Wegovy^® showed a significant 57% greater risk reduction for heart attack, stroke and cardiovascular-related death or death from any cause, in people with overweight or obesity and CVD, who did not have any gaps in their treatment lasting more than 30 days. There were 15 (0.1%) of these cardiovascular events recorded with Wegovy^®, and 39 events (0.4%) were recorded with tirzepatide. The average follow-up duration was 3.8 months for the Wegovy^® group and 4.3 months for the tirzepatide group.¹ 

In all treated people, regardless of any gaps in their treatment, Wegovy^® showed a significant 29% risk reduction for heart attack, stroke and death from any cause compared with tirzepatide (over an average follow-up of 8.3 months for Wegovy^® and 8.6 months for tirzepatide).¹

“Our landmark trial, SELECT, showed that Wegovy^® is associated with a significant 20% risk reduction of cardiovascular events, backed up with even greater risk reductions in the real-world studies SCORE and STEER. The results are clear – STEER demonstrates that Wegovy^® cuts the risk of heart attack, stroke or death by 57% compared to tirzepatide,” said Ludovic Helfgott, executive vice president and head of Product & Portfolio Strategy at Novo Nordisk. “This data confirms that semaglutide stands apart as the only available GLP-1-based medication with proven cardiovascular benefits for people living with obesity and cardiovascular disease, without diabetes.”

Additionally, in all treated people, regardless of any gaps in their treatment, people treated with Wegovy^® experienced fewer events of heart attack, stroke and cardiovascular-related death than people treated with tirzepatide.¹