Novo Nordisk has announced that Victoza (liraglutide) significantly reduced the risk of the composite primary endpoint of cardiovascular (CV) death, non-fatal myocardial infarction (heart attack) or non-fatal stroke by 13% vs placebo (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.78; 0.97, p=0.01), when added to standard of care in 9,340 adults with type 2 diabetes at high CV risk.

The main results of the LEADER trial were presented at the American Diabetes Association’s 76th Scientific Sessions (ADA 2016) and also published in the New England Journal of Medicine. Victoza is the only approved GLP-1 receptor agonist to demonstrate a superior reduction of major CV events vs placebo, both on top of standard of care, in a cardiovascular outcomes trial.

There was a significant 22% reduction in cardiovascular death with Victoza treatment vs placebo (95% CI: 0.66; 0.93, p=0.007) and reductions in non-fatal myocardial infarction (HR=0.88, 95% CI: 0.75; 1.03, p=0.11) and non-fatal stroke (HR=0.89, 95% CI: 0.72; 1.11,p=0.30).

“These findings are exciting, as it demonstrates that Victoza can improve outcomes beyond glucose reduction and weight loss by helping to avoid cardiovascular complications and death in people with type 2 diabetes,” said Dr John Buse, chairman of the LEADER Steering Committee and chief of Endocrinology and director of the Diabetes Care Centre at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine. “Type 2 diabetes treatments that can also reduce cardiovascular risk are important since cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death worldwide in this patient population.”