Ozempic 2 mg showed a 6% lower risk of heart attack, stroke and death – but there’s a catch

New research is more than 636,000 patients with type 2 diabetes showed an interesting difference between two of the most talked about drugs of recent times.

In patients whose dose of semaglutide (Ozempic) was increased to 2 mg, the risk of major cardiovascular events was approximately 6% lowerthan those switched to tirzepatide (Mounjaro).

Briefly about the main thing

• analysis included 636,525 adults with type 2 diabetes;
• 185,705 patients had their semaglutide dose increased to 2 mg;
• 23,104 patients switched to tirzepatide;
• in the first group, the risk of death, heart attack or stroke was approximately 6% lower;
• the study was retrospective and not a randomized head-to-head comparison;
• data provided by the company Novo Nordiskmanufactured by Ozempic.

What exactly did the researchers find?

Research results COMPETE SWITCH CV were presented at the annual conference of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes – EASD 2026 in Milan.

The researchers examined insurance and medical records of adults with type 2 diabetes who were already receiving semaglutide 1 mg.

Two strategies were then compared: increasing the dose of semaglutide to 2 mg or switching to tirzepatide in doses up to 15 mg.

According to Novo Nordiskincreasing semaglutide dose was associated with a statistically significant relative risk reduction in the composite MACE score of approximately 6%. It included death from any cause, myocardial infarction and stroke.

But this does not mean that Ozempic is proven better than Mounjaro

This is where an important clarification needs to be made.

It was not a randomized clinical trialin which patients were randomly assigned to Ozempic and Mounjaro. The researchers analyzed existing data from real-life medical practice.

In such studies, it is impossible to completely exclude differences between groups: the health status of patients, reasons for changing the drug, concomitant diseases, doses prescribed by doctors and other factors.

In addition, the study was presented by Novo Nordisk, the company that makes Ozempic and directly competes with Eli Lilly, the manufacturer of Mounjaro. This does not invalidate the results, but the source of funding and analysis must be considered.

6% is a relative risk

There is one more important detail. Specified 6% — the difference in relative rather than absolute risk.

In the published report, the company does not provide a simple indicator like “how many heart attacks were prevented per thousand patients.” Therefore, the figure cannot be interpreted as a statement that everyone taking Ozempic automatically reduces the likelihood of a heart attack by six percentage points.

Both drugs have a cardiovascular evidence base

Semaglutide has already shown cardiovascular benefits in large randomized trials. At the same time, current ADA/EASD recommendations note cardioprotective data for tirzepatide in patients with type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular diseases.

The ADA/EASD 2026 consensus indicates that the GLP-1 agonist class overall reduces the risk of major cardiovascular events by approximately 14% in patients with type 2 diabetes and established cardiovascular disease or high risk. Current recommendations published in Diabetologia.

The popularity of drugs also has a downside.

Ozempic and Mounjaro have long gone beyond the purely diabetic topic due to their effect on body weight.

The Athens News previously examined in detail five common mistakes when using GLP-1 drugsincluding increasing the dosage too quickly and trying to change the treatment regimen on your own.

We also talked about the rapidly growing black market Ozempic, Mounjaro and their counterfeits. European regulators warn that drugs in this group should only be obtained through the official medical system.

And in Greece, the hype around weight loss products has even led to abuse of the electronic prescription system: “In order to receive free weight loss drugs, citizens were registered as diabetics”.

What does this mean for the patient?

New data gives doctors another argument when choosing treatment for a patient with type 2 diabetes, especially if cardiovascular risk is high.

But research is not a reason to independently switch from Mounjaro to Ozempic, increase the dose of semaglutide or change the prescribed therapy. The choice of drug depends not only on weight, but also on sugar levels, heart and kidney disease, treatment tolerance and other individual factors.

Research data: Novo Nordisk / COMPETE SWITCH CV.

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