The Growing Role for Obesity Care in Cardiology

It’s unmistakable. A quick look at the upcoming meeting of the American College of Cardiology in Chicago tells us that obesity care has a growing role in cardiology. The meeting starts March 29 and a total of 27 educational sessions will focus on obesity. Three late breaking publications – two for semaglutide and one for tirzepatide – will spring into view.

Applications for both tirzepatide and semaglutide in heart failure are under review at FDA – potentially for approval later this year.

Looking for an Edge

Novo Nordisk issued a press release to highlight six research presentations for semaglutide at the meeting. From a real world study of major cardiovascular events for people (the SCORE study) with heart disease and obesity, researchers will present data showing a 46% reduction in such events. They saw an even greater reduction in risk of deaths from all causes.

In the domain of cardiology, semaglutide and tirzepatide are in a tight race for dominance. Clearly, with the SELECT study of cardiovascular outcomes, Novo’s semaglutide had a head start. The outcomes study for tirzepatide (SURMOUNT-MMO) will not be complete until 2027. But in the meantime, Lilly might have gained a slight edge in the race for a heart failure indication. While the tirzepatide application went into FDA last year, Novo had to resubmit its application for semaglutide early this year.

With a detailed late-breaking presentation of the SUMMIT trial data, Lilly hopes to present a case for tirzepatide at the meeting.

A New Dawn

One thing is clear enough, though. This is the dawn of a new era for obesity care in cardiology. In Circulation last year, Naveed Sattar, Ian Neeland, and Darren McGuire described it well:

“Given that many patients with or at elevated risk of CVD are now living with overweight and obesity and often have several other weight-related comorbidities, evidence-based weight loss treatments that simultaneously lower MACE and other weight-related outcomes have the potential to be transformative.”

Click here for more on presentations for semaglutide at the American College of Cardiology meeting, here for more perspective on the value of tirzepatide, and here for more on this new era in the obesity and cardiovascular disease.

Heart-Shaped Potato, photograph by W.carter, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0

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March 20, 2025