Wegovy cuts risk of heart attack, stroke or death by 57% compared with tirzepatide

Published: 1-Sep-2025

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 treatments

Novo Nordisk has 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.

Wegovy cuts risk of heart attack, stroke or death by 57% compared with tirzepatide

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.

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.

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 (during an average follow-up of 8.3 months for Wegovy and 8.6 months for tirzepatide).

“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.

You may also like