Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy® Shows 57% Greater Protection Against Heart Attack, Stroke, Or Death Versus Tirzepatide In Real-World Study Of Obese Patients With Cardiovascular Disease

Novo Nordisk presented new data from the STEER real-world study at the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) Congress 2025 in Madrid, Spain. The study focused on people with overweight or obesity who also had established cardiovascular disease but did not have diabetes. Its aim was to evaluate the risk of major adverse cardiovascular events, which include heart attack, stroke, cardiovascular-related death, and death from any cause, when treated with Wegovy (semaglutide 2.4 mg) compared to tirzepatide.

The results showed that patients receiving Wegovy had a notably lower risk of these serious cardiovascular events compared to those treated with tirzepatide. In patients who remained on treatment without interruptions longer than 30 days, Wegovy was associated with a 57% greater reduction in risk. Within this group, 15 cardiovascular events, equal to 0.1% of patients, were reported with Wegovy, while 39 events, or 0.4%, were reported with tirzepatide. The average follow-up period was 3.8 months for patients on Wegovy and 4.3 months for those on tirzepatide.

Ludovic Helfgott, executive vice president and head of Product & Portfolio Strategy at Novo Nordisk, stated, “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. 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.”

When considering all patients, including those who experienced gaps in treatment, Wegovy still showed a significant benefit. Across this wider group, treatment with Wegovy reduced the risk of heart attack, stroke, or death by 29% compared with tirzepatide. The average follow-up in this analysis was 8.3 months for patients taking Wegovy and 8.6 months for those on tirzepatide. Overall, the data indicated that patients treated with Wegovy experienced fewer cardiovascular events than those treated with tirzepatide.