Ben-Gurion University maps how two common drugs may protect the heart's rhythm

Researchers at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev reported on 13 May 2026 how two widely used drugs, the weight-loss and diabetes medicine semaglutide and the gout drug colchicine, may protect the heart against atrial fibrillation. The study, published in the journal Europace, was led by Prof. Yoram Etzion of the university's Cardiac Arrhythmia Research Laboratory, with MD-PhD student Or Levi as first author and colleagues from Soroka University Medical Center and Tel Aviv University.

Atrial fibrillation, an irregular and often rapid heartbeat in the heart's upper chambers, is the most common sustained rhythm disorder and a major cause of stroke. It often follows a process called atrial remodelling, in which the upper chambers become scarred and their electrical wiring breaks down, frequently after a heart attack. The team studied rats with weakened hearts after a heart attack, a model that mimics this process.

The two drugs worked in different ways. Semaglutide reduced scarring, or fibrosis, in the atria and helped preserve connexin-43, a protein that links heart muscle cells electrically so they beat in step. Colchicine blocked several stress-signalling pathways that damage heart tissue. Both drugs damped down the NLRP3 inflammasome, an inflammatory switch linked to the progression of heart disease. Notably, semaglutide protected the atria even in animals that were neither obese nor diabetic, which suggests a direct effect on the heart rather than one that works only through weight loss or blood sugar.

Because both medicines are already approved and widely prescribed, the researchers suggest they could be used deliberately to stop rhythm disorders from developing in high-risk patients. That idea still has to be tested in clinical studies; the current findings come from animals. The work was funded by the Israel Science Foundation, the Israel Heart Society and the university.