CNN
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There is increasing evidence that the injectable drug tirzepatide helps people with diabetes lose weight and control blood sugar, according to the drug’s maker, Eli Lilly and Company.
In a new study, more than 900 adults with obesity and diabetes took the drug for one year and five months, with those given the highest dose losing an average of 34 pounds, or nearly 16% of their starting weight. It also helped people lower blood sugar, the company said in a Press release. The data has not yet been peer reviewed or published in a medical journal.
“We have not reached 15% in any other phase three trial for weight control in this type 2 diabetes population,” said Nadia Ahmad, MD, associate vice president, Eli Lilly and medical director of obesity clinical development at the company.
Ahmad said the company was pleased with these results, given how difficult it is for people with type 2 diabetes to lose weight.
Tirzepatide is currently sold as Mounjaro and is approved to help people with type 2 diabetes control their blood sugar.
Lilly says it will use the new study, along with the results of an earlier study on weight loss in people without diabetes, to ask the US Food and Drug Administration for a competitor to the hit obesity drug Wegovy.
A lot of people aren’t waiting for the go-ahead from the FDA.
“I’m aware and I’ve heard, you know, that it’s used off-label for weight loss and in people who don’t have diabetes,” said Dr. Kimberly Gudzune, chief medical officer for the American Board of Obesity Medicine. Gudzune was not involved in the tirzepatide study.
Gudzune points out that once a drug is approved by the FDA, it can be prescribed for any reason a doctor deems medically necessary.
Tirzepatide, along with several similar types of diabetes drugs, were in short supply last year as success stories posted on social media fueled runaway demand for their weight-loss benefits. The shortage made the drugs difficult for diabetes patients to obtain.
Tirzepatide works by mimicking the action of two different gut hormones. When blood sugar rises after eating, the medicine stimulates the body to produce more insulin, which lowers blood sugar. It also slows down the movement of food from the stomach, making people feel full longer. In clinical trials, people who took tirzepatide experienced more nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea compared to those who received a placebo injection.
Like other drugs in its class, it also seems to help people lose substantial amounts of weight.
Semaglutide, made by Novo Nordisk, has also been approved as a weight loss medication for overweight adults with at least one associated health problem since 2021. When prescribed for weight loss, it is sold under the brand name Wegovy. When prescribed for diabetes, the injection is sold under the brand name Ozempic.
High demand, coupled with manufacturing problems, led Wegovy to shortages for much of last year. That shortage then turned into a shortage for diabetes patients when doctors began prescribing other off-label diabetes drugs for weight loss.
Much has already been made about the potential of tirzepatide as an obesity drug. In a clinical trial published in the New England Journal of Medicine Last year, people who were overweight or obese but did not have diabetes lost an average of 52 pounds on the highest dose of the drug, or more than 20% of their starting weight.
“In the last year it’s been really exciting to have more tools in the toolbox, if you will. And tools that, you know, we’re seeing actually achieve the results that patients have been hoping to achieve for a long time,” Gudzune said.
If those results hold up in the real world, that would make it the most powerful of the injectable weight loss drugs.
In fact, this week Lilly aims to begin a study that will test Mounjaro against Wegovy in 700 participants at 61 sites in the United States and Canada, according to clinical trials.gov. The study will conclude in February 2025.
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