By Damilola Oluwaje

Copyright tribuneonlineng

A daily weight loss pill could help people cut their body weight by up to a fifth, according to a large trial.

The drug Orforglipron, developed by Eli Lilly, an American multinational pharmaceutical company, works on the same GLP-1 receptors as weight-loss injections like Mounjaro and Wegovy. In a 72-week trial involving 3,127 adults, one in five people who took the once-daily pill lost 20% or more of their body weight.

While weight loss injections have changed obesity treatment, a daily weight loss pill could be easier to use, store and distribute, and may cost less, giving more people access to treatment.

Orforglipron is a GLP-1 agonist, a drug that lowers blood sugar levels, slows digestion and helps reduce appetite.

Weight loss from orforglipron was less than results seen with tirzepatide (Mounjaro), also made by Eli Lilly, but experts believe a pill could be more practical and widely used than injections.

The drug has not yet been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration or other regulators. Eli Lilly has said it expects strong demand when it is launched.

The full findings have been published in the New England Journal of Medicine and were presented at the European Association for the Study of Diabetes meeting in Vienna, Austria.

Participants in the study, all with obesity but no diabetes, were from the US, China, Brazil, India, Japan, South Korea, Spain, Slovakia and Taiwan. They were given different doses of orforglipron or a placebo for 72 weeks.

Those on the lowest dose (6mg) lost an average of 7.5% of their body weight. Those on the highest dose (36mg) lost an average of 11.2%. Among those on the highest dose, 54.6% lost at least 10% of their body weight, 36% lost at least 15%, and 18.4% lost at least 20%.

Researchers said other health markers improved among people taking the pill, including blood pressure, waist size and cholesterol levels. The most common side effects were mild to moderate stomach issues.

“In adults with obesity, 72-week treatment with orforglipron led to significantly greater reductions in body weight than placebo,” the authors wrote. “The adverse-event profile was consistent with that of other GLP-1 receptor agonists.”

Dr Sean Wharton of McMaster University, who led the study, said: “This could mean an expansion of obesity interventions to groups who are currently excluded due to the cost of and lack of access to injectable medications.”

Health leaders say weight loss drugs have been transformative, but injections require extra resources from health services. A daily weight loss pill could make treatment available to more people.

Separate research published in JAMA Pediatrics on Monday found weight loss injections could help children as young as six who are obese or have type 2 diabetes, though stomach problems were “significantly more common” among children taking the drugs.

The researchers said longer follow-ups and real-world studies are “essential to establish the long-term effects of GLP-1 RAs in children and adolescents”.

(The Guardian)

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