New wonder drug helps obese people lose 24 kilos

People who received the highest dose of weekly injections of tirzepatide, a new hunger-blocking drug that mimics natural appetite-suppressing hormones, lost 24 kilogrammes, about 22.5 percent of their body weight, a new study has found.

The new findings from a large clinical trial come after the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved another anti-obesity drug known as semaglutide in June last year.

Like semaglutide, tirzepatide has been found to trigger side effects such as vomiting, constipation, nausea and diarrhea, which seem to worsen at higher doses.

The study by researchers at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, involved 2,539 people in nine countries who weighed 105kg on average at baseline.

They were asked to give themselves weekly injections of tirzepatide at low, medium or high doses or a placebo for 72 weeks, without knowing which one they were taking, in a late-stage clinical trial.

“Tirzepatide (5mg, 10mg, 15mg) achieved superior weight loss compared to placebo at 72 weeks of treatment in topline results from clinical trials, with participants losing up to 22.5 percent of their body weight,” the study says. 

The study was the first phase three global registration trial evaluating the efficacy and safety of tirzepatide in adults with obesity or overweight with at least one comorbidity who do not have diabetes.

“Tirzepatide met both co-primary endpoints of superior mean percent change in body weight from baseline and greater percentage of participants achieving body weight reductions of at least 5 per cent. The study also achieved all key secondary endpoints at 72 weeks,” US pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly, makers of the drug, announced.

"Obesity is a chronic disease that often does not receive the same standard of care as other conditions, despite its impact on physical, psychological and metabolic health, which can include increased risk of hypertension, heart disease, cancer and decreased survival," explained Mr Louis Aronne, the managing director at the Comprehensive Weight Control Centre and was part of the study.

One advantage of obesity drugs is that they can be discontinued if necessary, said Joseph Proietto, who was also part of the study.

“The downside of bariatric surgery is that you can never ever have a normal meal again, not even for a special occasion, but with medication, you can still do this,” he said.

He said doctors’ experience with semaglutide had revealed that starting patients on low doses and gradually increasing them can do away with the side effects and so the same may be true for tirzepatide

Tirzepatide is the first investigational medicine to deliver more than 20 percent weight loss on average in a phase three study and has reinforced Lilly’s confidence in its potential to help people living with obesity, said Jeff Emmick who is the vice president of product development at Lilly.

"Obesity is a chronic disease that requires effective treatment options, and Lilly is working relentlessly to support people with obesity and modernise how this disease is approached,” he said.

“We're proud to research and develop potentially innovative treatments like tirzepatide, which helped nearly two thirds of participants on the highest dose reduce their body weight by at least 20 percent."

Experts at Lilly also say they will continue monitoring participants who began the clinical trial with pre-diabetes for another 104 weeks to see if tirzepatide is also useful for preventing type 2 diabetes.