In the first head-to-head comparison test, people using Eli Lilly’s obesity medicine Zepbound shed nearly 23kg while those using competitor Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy dropped just under 15kg.
After 72 weeks, those who received weekly injections of Zepbound, which contains the anti-diabetic medication tirzepatide, lost 20.2% of their body weight, or about 22.6kg, while those using the other semaglutide drug lost 13.75, or just under 15kg.
“Given the increased interest around obesity medications, the goal of this study was to help healthcare providers and patients make informed treatment decisions,” said Dr Leonard Glass, senior vice-president of global medical affairs at Lilly Cardiometabolic Health,.
“We are thrilled with the findings showing the superior weight loss of Zepbound, which helped patients achieve 47% more relative weight loss than Wegovy. Zepbound is in a class of its own as the only FDA-approved dual GIP and GLP-1 receptor agonist obesity medication, and it’s changing how millions of people manage this chronic disease.”
“Novo Nordisk welcomes all innovation … and will await the complete data, including the distribution of treatment doses in the two groups, once the trial has been peer-reviewed and/or published,” a Novo Nordisk spokesperson told The Independent.
“Wegovy is the only obesity medicine proven to reduce the risk of cardiovascular (CV) death, stroke and heart attack in people with known heart disease and obesity,” they said.
“It’s also the only obesity medication recommended by the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) 2024 guidelines for treatment of chronic coronary syndromes.”
The randomised clinical trial, in which participants were divided into groups to compare the drugs, included 751 adult participants across the US who were obese or overweight, with at least one other medical condition like hypertension, sleep apnoea, cardiovascular disease, and the metabolic disorder dyslipidemia.
They did not have diabetes.
Eli Lilly said it would continue to evaluate the trial’s results, which would be published in a peer-review journal and presented at a conference next year. Previous research from both companies found that the drugs helped people lose weight, but didn’t pit the two drugs against each other.
Both drugs are different versions of the diabetes treatments Mounjaro and Ozempic, which are produced by Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk, respectively.
Zepbound has been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for chronic weight management in adults with obesity, while the administration approved a new indication for use for Wegovy earlier this year to reduce the risk of cardiovascular death, heart attack, and stroke in adults with cardiovascular disease who are either overweight or obese.
See more from MedicalBrief archives:
Ozempic, Wegovy rivals step up the pace in obesity drug gold rush
Weight loss drug approved for heart disease prevention