Popular weight loss drug linked to key benefits for patients undergoing TAVR, PCI
Tirzepatide, a popular GLP-1 drug sold by Eli Lilly and Company under the brand names Zepbound and Mounjaro, is associated with significant benefits for certain patients undergoing transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) or percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), according to new data presented at the SCAI 2026 Scientific Sessions and CAIC-ACCI Summit in Montréal, Canada.
A major risk reduction for obese TAVR patients
Approximately one in five TAVR patients are obese. To track the impact of tirzepatide among these individuals, researchers explored the TriNetX Global Collaborative Network for data on TAVR patients who did and did not receive tirzepatide from 2020 to 2025.
Overall, after one year, the tirzepatide group was linked with significantly better outcomes, including a higher rate of event-free survival—84.1% vs. 77.7%—and a lower risk of experiencing an adverse cardiovascular event. In addition, patients not given tirzepatide faced a 54% higher risk of being hospitalized for acute heart failure than patients given the GLP-1 drug.
“Patients undergoing TAVR often carry a significant cardiometabolic burden, and these results suggest that targeting underlying risk factors with agents like tirzepatide could translate into meaningful clinical benefit,” lead author Ibrahim Mortada, MD, a researcher with the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, Texas, said in a statement. “The reduction in serious cardiovascular events without an increase in ischemic or renal complications provides rationale for clinicians to seriously consider adjunctive metabolic therapy.”
Tirzepatide bests dulaglutide for PCI patients
For this study, researchers explored one-year data from more than 1,200 PCI patients who were treated with either tirzepatide or dulaglutide, another popular GLP-1 drug.
Patients treated with tirzepatide were associated with a lower rates of major adverse cardiovascular events, acute myocardial infarctions, heart failure exacerbations and ventricular arrhythmias than the patients treated with dulaglutide. Stroke rates were comparable, however.
The authors also noted that tirzepatide was still making an impact on these patients more than one year after treatment.
“This study provides real-world evidence comparing two commonly used diabetes medications in a high-risk population,” lead author Revati Varma, MD, an internal medicine resident at Cook County Hospital in Chicago. “Tirzepatide consistently reduced major cardiovascular events and mortality across multiple time points, which clinicians should actively consider when selecting therapies.”
More research on the horizon
In the case of both studies, additional research is still needed to learn more about these relationships between tirzepatide and cardiovascular outcomes.
The SCAI 2026 Scientific Sessions and CAIC-ACCI Summit is a joint conference from the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions and Canadian Association of Interventional Cardiology.
Michael has more than 19 years of experience as a professional writer and editor. He has written at length about cardiology, radiology, artificial intelligence and other key healthcare topics.