(VOR News) – A recent study suggests that Eli Lilly’s new weight-loss medication helped individuals lose significant amounts of weight.
Patients were capable of losing an average of 27.3 pounds, which is equivalent to 12.4% of their total body weight, when they were administered the highest dose of orforglipron for 72 weeks.
Eli Lilly intends to submit an application to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of the United States of America requesting authorization to commercialize the medication before the end of the year.
Wegovy, Ozempic, Zepbound, and Mounjaro are Eli Lilly injectable medicines that are used to treat type 2 diabetes and obesity. If approved, the tablet could provide a simpler alternative to injection-based substances like the medications under consideration.
In an interview with The New York Times, Kenneth Custer, president of cardiometabolic health at Eli Lilly, stated that tablets are more straightforward to manufacture and can be produced on a large scale.
“The number of individuals we can assist has increased by orders of magnitude,” he stated, adding that pills may also be beneficial to those residing in countries that lack cold storage, which is essential for the delivery of intravenous medications.
The novel GLP-1 medicine is also similar to injectable therapy.
According to the Cleveland Clinic, GLP-1 medications function by causing patients to feel fuller for an extended period of time and by slowing down the rate at which they eat.
In the most recent clinical trial, 3,127 individuals were randomly assigned to receive either forglipron or a placebo. Three distinct concentrations were implemented to evaluate the efficacy of the medication.
In addition to a decrease in their overall body weight, individuals who consumed the medication experienced enhancements in their cholesterol, triglyceride, and blood pressure levels.
The Times reported that many of the recorded adverse effects were similar to those previously documented with injectable medications. These adverse effects included indigestion, constipation, diarrhea, and vomiting.
Additionally, Lilly conducted a study earlier this year to assess orforglipron in individuals with type 2 diabetes. They found that it produced advantages that were comparable to those of Ozempic in terms of weight loss and blood sugar reduction.
The Times reports that the business plans to make the pharmaceutical available for the treatment of diabetes in 2026, following the receipt of authorization from the FDA. At present, there is no direct comparison between the efficacy of orforglipron and injectable medications like Zepbound or Wegovy.
In a previous study, participants who utilized Zepbound experienced a 20.2% reduction in body weight over a 72-week period, while those who utilized Wegovy experienced a 13.2% reduction in body weight during the same time frame.
However, Eli Lilly experts believe the novel treatment may have numerous benefits.
Because of this, Dr. David Cummings, an obesity expert at the University of Washington in Seattle, posits that it may not be as beneficial as injections.
On the other hand, Cummings observes that “that feature alone could make it truly impactful” if it were to become significantly less expensive and simpler to manufacture.
Eli Lilly has not yet disclosed the price of the medication; however, the company intends to do so following the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) review of the drug in anticipation of its marketing approval.
It is estimated that 170 million individuals in the United States could potentially benefit from the use of pharmaceuticals for obesity, although Eli Lilly only approximately 8 million individuals are currently taking these medications.
He stated in an article published in The Times that the high cost and protracted production process associated with the production of injectable medications are among the primary causes.
Custer noted that tablets are more straightforward to manufacture and store, which suggests that this new treatment could potentially benefit a larger population.
SOURCE: USN
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