Aug 31 (Reuters) - Novo Nordisk said on

Sunday its blockbuster weight-loss drug Wegovy cut the risk of

heart attack, stroke or death by 57% versus Eli Lilly's ( LLY )

rival medicines Mounjaro and Zepbound in a real-world comparison

of overweight and obese patients with cardiovascular disease but

not diabetes.

While this was not a randomized controlled trial, Novo said

the findings provide evidence that the heart-protective benefits

of Wegovy and its main ingredient semaglutide may not be the

same for all GLP-1 drugs, such as tirzepatide, the active

ingredient in Zepbound and Mounjaro.

Compared with tirzepatide, a 2.4 milligram dose of Wegovy

showed a significant 57% greater risk reduction for heart

attack, stroke and cardiovascular-related death or death from

any cause while on treatment with no gaps of more than 30 days,

the Danish drugmaker said.

The actual number of major adverse heart events was low for

both drugs - 15, or 0.1%, of patients on Wegovy and 39, or 0.4%,

of tirzepatide patients. The average follow-up duration was 3.8

months for the Wegovy group and 4.3 months for tirzepatide.

The data, gathered from more than 21,000 patients and

presented at the European Society of Cardiology meeting in

Madrid, also showed a 29% reduction in heart risk and death from

any cause in Wegovy users compared with tirzepatide users

regardless of any gaps in their treatment.

The findings could provide a boost for Novo, which has been

losing U.S. market share to Zepbound since becoming Europe's

most valuable company last year on booming sales of Wegovy.

Earlier in August, Novo implemented a global hiring freeze

for non-critical job roles, highlighting the increased

competition in the industry, which also led to Denmark slashing

its 2025 economic growth forecast, anticipating dampened growth

expectations for the pharmaceutical giant.

Zepbound and Wegovy currently dominate the weight-loss

market, which some analysts expect to reach $150 billion by the

early 2030s.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is reviewing a

high-dose oral version of Wegovy for potential approval later

this year. Novo said it helped overweight or obese adults lose

15% of their weight in a late-stage trial.

Real-world studies cannot prove cause and effect the way

randomized clinical trials do. Other limitations of the study

include the short follow-up duration.