Overweight People Lost 30 to 50 Pounds With Newly Approved Diabetes Drug, Study Finds

Study: Diabetes Drug Fights Overweight 0:49 (CNN) — A weekly dose of a drug recently approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat type diabetes 2 could also help adults without diabetes lose weight, a new study found. Tirzepatide, which is sold under the brand name Mounjaro, was studied in people without diabetes at three doses: 5, 10 and 15 milligrams. Overweight or obese participants taking the 5-milligram dose lost an average of 16 kilograms, those taking the 10-milligram dose lost an average of 22 kilograms, and participants on the 15-milligram dose lost an average of 23.6 kilograms. “Nearly 40% of people lost a quarter of their body weight,” Dr. Ania Jastreboff, co-director of the Yale Center for Weight Management, told a media briefing. “The data was pretty impressive,” said Dr. Robert Gabbay, medical director of the American Diabetes Association, who spoke to CNN from the ADA’s 82nd Scientific Sessions in New Orleans, where the study results were presented. “The weight loss they achieved in this study was even greater than what had been seen in previous studies of people with diabetes,” said Gabbay, who was not involved in the study. “The median range of weight loss for people in this new study was 49 pounds, which is a lot,” he said. “It’s the range of weight loss that we normally think is only possible through surgery.” Overall, people without diabetes lost an average of 15% to 20.9% of their starting body weight over the course of the 72-week, double-blind, randomized clinical trial, which was published Saturday in The New England Journal of Medicine. Participants who received a placebo lost between 2.4% and 3.1% of their body weight, on average. By comparison, studies in people with diabetes who used tirzepatide found that they lost an average of 15% of their starting body weight, Gabbay said. “This is not an unusual observation,” he said. “The impact of previous weight-loss medications is less effective in people with diabetes, and honestly, we don’t know exactly why.” However, tirzepatide’s impact on people with diabetes remains “profound,” Gabbay said, “providing much more than other tools we’ve had.” The diabetes drug was given in self-injectable doses. For the new study, weekly injections of tirzepatide were tested in more than 2,500 people without diabetes who had a body mass index (BMI) greater than 30 or who had a BMI greater than 27 and had at least one weight-related health problem, or conditions such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or cardiovascular disease. A measure of a person’s height-to-weight ratio, a BMI of 25 or more is considered overweight in adults. At the start of the study, the participants had an average weight of 105 kilograms and an average BMI of 38. The adults in the study injected themselves with tirzepatide or a placebo once a week, using “a small pen-like device with a tiny needle Gabby said. “The prick of that needle is less painful than, for example, people who prick their fingers to measure blood glucose.” Control overweight with this superfood 0:48 People in the study also received counseling sessions to help them stick to a healthy diet with a 500-calorie daily deficit, as well as at least 150 minutes of physical activity each week. While that certainly helped, it doesn’t explain the magnitude of weight loss seen in the study, Gabbay said. “The type of weight loss that we see when people exercise and change their calorie intake is on the order of 5% to 7%,” she said. “This study showed profoundly greater weight loss, far beyond what we would imagine with lifestyle changes.” The most common side effects reported were nausea, diarrhea, and constipation. Between 2.6% and 7.1% of participants discontinued treatment due to adverse events. Mounjaro carries a boxed warning about thyroid tumors and should not be used by people with a family history of certain thyroid conditions. “Obesity needs to be treated like any other chronic disease, with effective and safe approaches that target the underlying (causes) of the disease … and these results underscore that tirzepatide may be doing just that,” said Jastreboff of the Center for the Yale Weight Management in a news release from the American Diabetes Association. “These results are an important step forward in potentially expanding effective therapeutic options for people with obesity.”