Mounjaro could slash heart attack risks for diabetes patients, study suggests

Those taking the jab were 33% less likely to have a heart attack when compared to patients on another type 2 diabetes drug.

Mounjaro is a GLP-1 receptor agonist drug, also known as tirzepatide. It is used on the NHS to treat type 2 diabetes and severe obesity.

The US study, published in The BMJ, included almost 53,000 people with type 2 diabetes and heart disease who had started on Mounjaro or sitagliptin, another diabetes drug.

Researchers tracked major adverse cardiovascular events (Mace) – which includes heart attacks, strokes and death from any cause – among the two groups.

After a year, the risk of Mace was 2.9% among those on Mounjaro compared to 4.4% in the sitagliptin group.

Researchers estimate that this is the equivalent of preventing one case per every 70 people.

Mounjaro slashed the risk of heart attacks by a third, although there was no meaningful difference found in cases of stroke.

However, Mounjaro did lower cases of hospital admissions due to infections, the analysis found.

One hospital admission was prevented for every 48 patients, according to researchers.

It also prevented one death from any cause for every 122 patients.

Researchers said: “This study shows how trial-anchored evidence from clinical practice can estimate the expected cardiovascular benefit of initiating tirzepatide beyond standard background treatment and inform shared decision making.”