STAT+: Eli Lilly’s Zepbound combined with amylin drug led to significant weight loss in mid-stage trial

Eli Lilly tested different combinations of its blockbuster GLP-1 drug Zepbound with eloralintide, an investigational candidate that targets the amylin hormone, in people with obesity and type 2 diabetes. The company is racing to bring next-generation obesity drugs to market, and the mid-stage study was designed to assess whether adding the amylin mechanism could improve results.

After 48 weeks, participants who stayed on treatment at the highest dose of the combination therapy lost 23.3% of their weight, according to results presented Wednesday at the annual meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes. That was more than the weight loss seen in those taking only Zepbound, at 14.8%, and those taking only the highest dose of eloralintide, at 11.1%.

The results were also notable because patients with diabetes do not tend to lose as much weight on medications as those who do not have diabetes. However, high rates of people stopping the treatment may raise questions about its tolerability.