Report shows that Eli Lilly’s drug is more effective than Novo Nordisk? Is the title of “miracle weight loss drug” going to change hands?

On Monday (November 27) local time, Truveta, an American electronic health record (EHR) data and analysis company, released a report stating that according to its research results, Eli Lilly’s Tirzepatide has three times the weight loss effect of Novo Nordisk’s Semaglutide.

The study explored the effects of Eli Lilly's Mounjaro and Novo Nordisk's Ozempic on patients' weight loss. It is understood that the active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) of the two drugs are tilpotide and semaglutide, both of which are GLP-1 receptor agonists. Since Novotel's sister product "Wegovy" was the first to be approved by the FDA for weight loss in the United States, its amazing weight loss effects have made semaglutide known as the "miracle drug for weight loss."

But Truveta's analysis, which used a variety of rigorous methods to track more than 18,000 patients, showed that patients taking tilpotide were 1.8 times more likely to lose 5% of their weight than those taking semaglutide, 6 times more likely to lose 10% of their weight, and 3 times more likely to lose 15%.

The data also showed that after taking each for 3 months, the average weight of the tilpotide group decreased by 5.9%, and that of the semaglutide group was 3.6%; after 6 months, the decrease in the tilpotide group was 10.1%, and that of the semaglutide group was -5.9%; after 12 months, the two proportions were 15.2% and 7.9%.

As can be seen, weight loss was maintained at nearly twice the level with tilpotide, while rates of gastrointestinal adverse events were similar. In response, a spokesperson for Eli Lilly told the media that the company does not promote or encourage the use of drugs for off-label purposes and pointed out that this study was not sponsored by it.

Even so, Eli Lilly still targeted semaglutide in the Phase III clinical study SURMOUNT-2. The results showed that tilpotide 5 mg, 10 mg and 15 mg all achieved greater A1C (glycated hemoglobin) and weight reduction than semaglutide.

Earlier this month, the US FDA announced the approval of tilpotide injection for long-term weight management indications, with the trade name "Zepbound". The FDA mentioned that the approval was based on the results of studies including SURMOUNT-2.

Applications for the long-term weight management indication of tilpotide are under review in Europe, China, the UK and several other markets.