Eli Lilly's weight loss drug dramatically cuts risk of diabetes, company says

Eli Lilly’s antidiabetic medication Zepbound cuts the risk of developing Type 2 diabetes by 94 percent in prediabetic adults and those who are overweight or obese, the company said Tuesday.  

Prediabetic and overweight adults who took part in a Phase 3 trial study experienced a significantly reduced risk of progressing to Type 2 diabetes after receiving weekly injections of the medication’s main ingredient tirzepatide over three years compared to those who received a placebo, the company said in a release.  

On top of this, adults who received injections with tirzepatide lost weight over their treatment period.  

Adults who took 15 mg of tirzepatide — the highest dosage anyone received as part of the study — lost about 23 percent of their body weight by the end of treatment compared to those on the placebo who lost an average of about 2 percent of their body weight.  

“The data reinforce the potential clinical benefits of long-term therapy for people living with obesity and pre-diabetes,” said Jeff Emmick, senior vice president of product development at Eli Lilly.  

Early results of a late-stage trial, “SURMOUNT-1," were published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2022. Those results helped the drug receive its Food and Drug Administration approval for weight loss last year.  

Eli Lilly submitted data for tirzepatide as a treatment for moderate-to-severe obstructive sleep apnea and obesity to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration earlier this year and plans to submit data on the drug's use for heart failure later this year, the company said in the release.

In the release, Eli Lilly said the overall “tolerability” of tirzepatide in the Phase 3 study was consistent with the primary results of the SURMOUNT-1 study, with the most frequently reported adverse effects being mild to moderate nausea, diarrhea, constipation and vomiting.