$1M Granted for Study on GLP-1 and Heart Risk Reduction
Glucagon-like peptide-1/gastric inhibitory polypeptide (GLP-1/GIP) agonists — originally developed to treat people with diabetes and obesity — are showing promise for improving cardiovascular outcomes, but their effects can vary across different populations[1]. Understanding these variations is key to identifying who benefits most from these therapies.
To learn more about these connections, the American Heart Association, a global force changing the future of health of all, is funding seven new scientific research studies to uncover which patients with obesity and cardiovascular disease are most likely to benefit from GLP-1 medications. The findings could help tailor treatment strategies and maximize the cardiovascular benefits of these medications.
This new research will complement a new American Heart Association scientific statement, published in Circulation, highlighting the importance of identifying and treating people at increased risk for heart failure before symptoms develop. The statement reinforces the broader need for proactive, evidence-based strategies across the continuum of heart failure care.
The selected teams of scientists for the “Identifying Predictors of Cardiovascular Risk Reduction Among Individuals with Obesity and Cardiovascular Disease on GLP-1 Medications” projects are from: Trustees of Boston University in Boston; Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in Cleveland; Duke University in Durham, North Carolina; University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas; Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, in New York City; University of Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh; and Regents of the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities in Minneapolis.
“While GLP-1 medications have shown great promise in reducing cardiovascular risk, we don’t yet fully understand why the benefits vary so widely across different patients groups,” said Jane A. Leopold, M.D., American Heart Association volunteer expert, reviewer of the selected teams, associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and director of the Women’s Interventional Cardiology Health Initiative at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. “This research will help us identify the biological, clinical and social factors that influence treatment response — enabling more precise, effective care for people with obesity and cardiovascular disease.”
The awarded researchers are granted access to a secure and private workspace on the American Heart Association’s Precision Medicine Platform to analyze data. The Precision Medicine Platform is a state-of-the art, cloud-based system that enables researchers the power to analyze large datasets in a secure environment and the power of machine learning.
The seven research projects, which began April 1, 2025, are funded for one year each, include:
The American Heart Association has funded more than $5.9 billion in cardiovascular, cerebrovascular and brain health research since 1949, making it the single largest non-government supporter of heart and brain health research in the U.S. New knowledge resulting from this funding benefits millions of lives in every corner of the U.S. and around the world.
https://newsroom.heart.org/news/1m-awarded-to-research-link-between-cardiovascular-risk-reduction-glp-1-use