The groundbreaking study on a diabetes medication, Mounjaro, has unleashed a new lease of life for those grappling with obesity or excessive weight. Combined with an intensive dietary regimen and a physical workout routine, the medicine facilitates a loss of at least a quarter of the total body weight, shedding an average of 27 kilograms, or 60 pounds. A comparison drawn with a group who supplemented dieting and exercising with placebo injections lost weight initially, only to regain some in due course, as elucidated by the researchers in Nature Medicine.
Dr. Thomas Wadden of the University of Pennsylvania, leading the investigation, illuminated the study’s core inference – initial weight loss heightened by the subsequent administration of the drug can result in significant weight reduction.
Presented on a scientific platform, the study substantiates the prospect that Eli Lilly & Co.’s drug has the power to emerge as one of the most potent therapeutic solutions for obesity.
Endorsing this revelation, Dr. Caroline Apovian from Brigham and Women’s Hospital asserts, “Any way you slice it, it’s a quarter of your total body weight.”
Introduced in the U.S. in May 2022, and officially approved to combat diabetes, Mounjaro has found another useful application – to remediate obesity. It joins the ranks of other weight loss and diabetes medications like Ozempic and Wegovy by Novo Nordisk. The drugs, unfortunately, grappling with insufficient supplies, retail at over US$900 a month.
These drugs, especially tirzepatide, mediate the hormones that control the sense of satiety after consumption of food, which is the prime force behind our appetites. The drug used in Ozempic and Wegovy, semaglutide, targets a similar mechanism.
The pioneer study funded by Eli Lilly, involved roughly 800 participants struggling with obesity or being overweight, with associated health complications, barring diabetes. After three months of rigorous diet and exercise, the trial witnessed over 200 dropouts, attributed to inadequate weight loss or other unforeseen reasons. Of the leftover approximately 600 people, they received weekly doses of tirzepatide or a placebo for around 16 months. By the end of the study, nearly 500 participants remained.
In the initial three months of the diet and exercise phase, average weight loss was about 7 per cent, irrespective of the group. But, those administered the drugs reported an additional average weight loss of 18.4 per cent more, while the placebo recipients witnessed an average weight gain of nearly 2.5 per cent.
As for the figures, about 88 per cent of those on tirzepatide lost more than 5 per cent of their initial weight, while almost 17 per cent of placebo recipients reported the same. Remarkably, nearly 29 per cent on the drug lost a minimum of a quarter of their initial weight, a result observed in just over 1 per cent placebo recipients.
Informed by the results of similar drugs and bariatric surgery, Apovian’s verdict aligns with earlier expert insights: the treatment effect is akin to a gastric bypass surgery.
A word of caution, however, comes with potential side effects such as nausea, diarrhea, and constipation that were primarily reported as the dosage escalated, and these were mostly mild to moderate in intensity. Ten per cent of those on the drug discontinued the study due to these side effects, as compared to about 2 per cent of those on placebo.
Presently, Lilly is gearing up to reveal the outcomes of further studies that report similar high rates of weight loss. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has granted the company sway to fast-track the review of the drug for obesity treatment, potentially under a different brand. A decision on this is much awaited by the year-end.
