Abstract:
Eli Lilly said that a new compound preparation can help diabetic patients lose up to 23% of their weight, and the weight loss effect exceeds other drugs in similar studies. It is expected to become the company's most effective obesity injection preparation at present. Eli Lilly is conducting trials of the experimental drug eloralintide, which mimics the effects of the human intestinal hormone amylin, with the blockbuster drug Mounjaro. Subjects using the highest dose combination regimen lost an average of 54 pounds and their blood sugar dropped by 2.9%.
Even with the latest medications, people with diabetes often have difficulty losing weight. Ken Custer, president of Eli Lilly's cardiometabolic division, said that a signal that reflects the powerful efficacy of the compound is that the weight loss achieved after 48 weeks of treatment exceeded the weight loss effect of another new generation injectable drug of Eli Lilly, retatrutide, in a larger 80-week trial.
“This could open up a whole new frontier in weight loss,” Castor said. Although cross-trial comparisons need to be viewed with caution, the results set "a new, higher benchmark."
On Wednesday, Eli Lilly's U.S. stocks rose as much as 2.6%, before the gains narrowed.
Competition in the diabetes and obesity drug markets is extremely fierce, and Eli Lilly is continuing to advance a number of drug pipelines under development to consolidate its leading position. If amylin drugs are successfully developed, Eli Lilly will once again compete with them on this track pioneered by the Danish pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk.
A total of 367 subjects were enrolled in this trial, divided into four groups: the elopratide alone group, the monzaro alone group, the two-drug combination group, and the placebo group. Glycated hemoglobin (A1C, a measure of average blood sugar levels) in the highest-dose combination group fell 2.9% from a baseline average of 8.1%.
“The results are amazing.” Julio Rosenstock, a researcher on this study and a professor of medicine at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, commented.
Rosenstock once nicknamed Eli Lilly's Monzaro "King Kong". He said that if Eli Lilly's new generation of injectable drug Ritaglutide can be called "Godzilla", then this Erolatide compound preparation can be called "The Hulk".
Lianna Billings, director of clinical and genetic research for diabetes and cardiometabolic diseases at Endeavor Health, who led the study, said the glucose-lowering effect of the program is "of major clinical significance." In the high-dose combination group, up to three-quarters of subjects achieved normal blood sugar levels.
An impact on Novo Nordisk
Rosenstock cautions that not everyone needs to lose such a drastic amount of weight.
Under the high-dose combination regimen, 27% of the subjects discontinued the drug due to adverse reactions; more than 80% of the subjects reported various side effects, and about half of the subjects experienced nausea.
Custer said that Eli Lilly will optimize the patient's dose escalation plan in subsequent trials to improve subjects' medication compliance.
Novo Nordisk took the lead in combining its self-developed amylin drug cagrilintide with its blockbuster drug Wegovy to develop a new generation compound preparation CagriSema, which is expected to be approved in the United States before the end of this year. However, in clinical trials, the weight loss effect achieved by Novo Nordisk's drug was repeatedly lower than investors' expectations.
Eli Lilly said it plans to launch late-stage clinical trials of this new compound preparation at the end of this year.
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