The paper says that a drug called semaglutide, which is already used for weight loss, may also help people with a type of heart failure called HFpEF, especially when it’s linked to obesity. It improves how well patients can exercise and reduces symptoms, adding to the benefits seen with other drugs like SGLT2 inhibitors. This could be useful for people looking to boost heart health while losing weight, but it still needs a doctor’s oversight.

Heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF), defined by clinical heart failure with left ventricular ejection fraction ≥ 50%, represents more than half of heart failure cases in Asia and carries a one-year composite hospitalization and mortality rate of approximately 12.1%. Recent landmark trials have transformed the therapeutic landscape: Sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitors emerged as treatment for HFpEF, shown beneficial in EMPEROR-preserved and DELIVER. Empagliflozin significantly reduced the risk of cardiovascular death or heart failure hospitalization and dapagliflozin demonstrated comparable efficacy across regions. Furthermore, glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist such as semaglutide have shown promising improvements in functional capacity and symptom burden in obesity-related HFpEF. Asian HFpEF phenotypes often exhibit high rates of hypertension and diabetes, alongside lower average body mass index compared to Western cohorts. In numerous respects, the clinical and pathophysiological features of HFpEF in Asian populations diverge from those traditionally observed in Western cohorts. In this brief review, we will focus on therapeutics approved for HFpEF and agents currently under clinical trial, as well as the distinctive characteristics of HFpEF patients observed in Asia and the key considerations for future therapeutic development in this region.