Novo says new Ozempic shows lower cardiovascular risk compared with Lilly’s Mounjaro

On Tuesday, Novo Nordisk said that a real-world study found that adults with type 2 diabetes who took an increased dose of its diabetes drug, Ozempic, had fewer major cardiovascular events compared to those who switched to Eli Lilly’s drug.

The company further said that patients who increased their dose to Ozempic to 2 milligrams from 1 mg saw a statistically reliable 6% lower risk of significant harmful cardiovascular events compared to those who use Mounjaro doses of up to 15mg.

The key findings were presented at the European Association for the Study of Diabetes annual meeting in Italy with analysis of 636,525 adults, 67.2% remained on Ozempic 1mg within 365 days of their first prescription.

Notably, an 29.2% also increased to Ozempic 2mg or switched to Mounjaro. The reports further showed that at the 720-day follow-up 57.4% had stuck with Ozempic 1mg with 36.9% rising to 2mg. The findings extend a prior evaluation of these data which examined HbA1c, a measure of glycemic control and weight loss.

In this connection, Michael Radin, medical director at Novo said: “These real-world findings can help provide ​insights into how ​intensification strategies ⁠may affect cardiovascular outcomes as an important factor in patient car.”

Novo and Lilly are engaged in a power struggle in the US obesity drug market which analysts project to be worth between $100 billion and $150 billion by 2030.