May 24 (Reuters) - Novo Nordisk's Ozempic

slowed the worsening of kidney dysfunction in patients with type

2 diabetes and lowered the risk of kidney failure, heart

problems, stroke and death, according to detailed results from a

late-stage trial presented on Friday.

The company in March reported that the diabetes drug known

chemically as semaglutide cut the combined risk of kidney

complications and cardiovascular events by 24% over the next 3.4

years in patients who received weekly 1-milligram injections

compared with those who got a placebo.

The benefits observed in the trial "reflect important

clinical effects on kidney, cardiovascular, and survival

outcomes among high-risk patients ... and support a therapeutic

role for semaglutide in this population," study leader Dr. Vlado

Perkovic of the University of New South Wales in Sydney,

Australia said in a statement.

The more detailed data on the trial of 3,533 patients with

type 2 diabetes and chronic kidney disease was presented at the

European Renal Association meeting in Stockholm and published in

the New England Journal of Medicine.

Kidney health declined significantly faster in patients who

received a placebo than in those who received Ozempic, as shown

by a measure known as the estimated glomerular filtration rate

(eGFR), researchers found.

The trial was stopped early when an independent monitoring

committee reviewed the data and determined the benefits of

Ozempic were clear, the researchers said.

Ozempic belongs to a class of drugs known as GLP-1 receptor

agonists and has the same active ingredient as Novo Nordisk's

wildly popular obesity drug Wegovy.

Obesity was not a requirement for participation in the

current trial. But Novo and rival Eli Lilly ( LLY ) are hoping

to gain wider insurance coverage for their weight-loss drugs by

demonstrating their other medical benefits.

Reductions in risk were similar when looking only at

kidney-related events, such as starting dialysis, undergoing

kidney transplantation or experiencing a precipitous decline in

kidney function, researchers said.

Patients in the Ozempic group had an 18% lower risk of major

adverse heart events and a 20% lower risk of death from any

cause, the researchers said.

Withdrawal from the study mostly due to gastrointestinal

issues were 13.2% in the Ozempic group versus 11.9% for placebo.