New Eli Lilly Obesity Drug Approved By FDA To Compete With Wegovy.
In a significant development in the field of obesity treatment, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted approval for a new obesity drug developed by Eli Lilly, which will pose a direct challenge to the widely popular Wegovy (Source: NY Times).
This newly approved medication is named tirzepatide and will be marketed under the brand name Zepbound. It is part of a new class of medications that are revolutionizing the landscape of weight loss and obesity management.
Obesity is a major health concern affecting approximately 100 million American adults and is associated with a range of health issues, including diabetes, heart disease, sleep apnea, liver disease, kidney disease, and joint pain.
Clinical trials of tirzepatide revealed impressive results, with patients experiencing an average weight loss of 18 percent of their body weight, especially when administered at the highest dosage.
This places Zepbound as a potent contender in the obesity treatment market, closely rivaling Wegovy, manufactured by Novo Nordisk, which leads to an average weight loss of 15 percent.
Zepbound has been granted FDA approval for use in individuals with obesity and for those who are overweight and have an obesity-related condition such as heart disease.
Notably, tirzepatide is already approved for diabetes treatment under the brand name Mounjaro, where it competes with Novo Nordisk’s diabetes drug, semaglutide, known as Ozempic.
Up until this approval, Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy, also based on semaglutide, was the sole FDA-approved medication capable of safely inducing substantial weight loss in individuals with obesity as a standalone condition.
Dr. John Sharretts, the director of the Division of Diabetes, Lipid Disorders, and Obesity at the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, highlighted the importance of this approval in addressing the escalating rates of obesity and overweight individuals in the United States, emphasizing that it meets an unmet medical need.
Dr. Susan Yanovski, co-director of the office of obesity research at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, underscored the remarkable progress in obesity treatment, likening medications like semaglutide and tirzepatide to producing weight loss results that were previously attainable only through bariatric surgery, a surgical intervention known for its efficacy in managing obesity.
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