Key Summary
- Daily consumption of Orforglipron could help patients lose up to 20 per cent of their body weight in 18 months
- This pill is also a GLP-1 agonist medication like Mounjaro, Ozempic and Wegovy
- The research found that the tablet also improved other health outcomes such as blood pressure, waist circumference and bad cholesterol
A daily pill has been found to cause “significant” reductions in body weight, and this could be a cheaper and more accessible weight-loss drug.
A study done by McMaster University in Canada found that almost one in five people taking the pill, Orforglipron, manufactured by US pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly, could lose up to 20 per cent of their body weight after consuming it for eighteen months.
The results were provisionally published in August, with the full paper detailing the findings published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
It was also presented to the Annual Meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes in Vienna, Austria.
Orforglipron is also a GLP-1 agonist medication like Mounjaro, Ozempic and Wegovy.
These drugs are used to control blood sugar levels, but they also reduce food cravings and, as a result, can cause rapid weight loss.
The reductions in weight are not as dramatic as those seen in other GLP-1 agonist weight-loss injections, but experts believe the tablet will be more accessible and convenient to use.
The researchers also found that the tablet improved other health outcomes such as blood pressure, waist circumference, and bad cholesterol.
Patients on the trial did report some side effects, such as nausea, with experts considering them to be tolerable for most on the drug.
The Canadian researchers also found that those taking the lowest 6mg dose of the tablet lost an average of 7.5 per cent of their body weight.
Those taking the highest dose of 36mg on average lost 11.2 per cent of their body weight.
Within this category, 18.4 per cent lost 20 per cent of their body weight or more during the trial.
The 72-week study involved 3,127 patients from the US, China, Brazil, India, Japan, South Korea, Spain, Slovakia and Taiwan.
This Eli Lilly drug could be fast-tracked under a one- to two-month review process recently launched by the US Food and Drug Administration, Reuters reports, quoting Wall Street analysts.
The FDA in July detailed terms of its new "Commissioner's National Priority Voucher, opens new tab," under which an experimental drug meeting certain criteria could be approved within a month or two. The agency's standard review takes 10 months.
