It is not licensed as a lipid-lowering medication, and patients requiring pharmacological cholesterol management should continue statins as recommended by NICE guidance, even whilst taking Saxenda for weight loss
Dunbar Matos remain optimistic about their potential to improve outcomes for people with heart disease and heart failure
The problem with GLP-1 as a drug candidate had always been its half-life: less than two minutes in the bloodstream before the enzyme DPP-4 degrades it
Data from the SUSTAIN and SCALE trials demonstrated that semaglutide therapy is associated with reductions in LDL cholesterol, total cholesterol, and triglycerides, alongside modest increases in HDL.[3,8] For patients already managing cardiovascular risk, this creates a meaningful opportunity: GLP-1-related lipid improvement may reduce or eliminate the need for statin therapy, but that conversation should be guided by lab data not assumptions
Some users maintain results with reduced frequency (a few times weekly instead of daily) after achieving desired improvement
The company called the effort the health-care industry's "first financial guarantee" for coverage of the drugs, which are also known as GLP-1s
