By Deena Beasley
(Reuters) – Results from a mid-stage trial found that the highest dose of Eli Lilly’s experimental pill orforglipron helped people who were obese or overweight lose 14.7% of their body weight after 36 weeks, the company said on Friday.
The pill belongs to a new class of drugs known as incretins that have reignited researcher and investor interest in the weight-loss treatment market, which is estimated to reach $100 billion by the end of the decade.
Results from the Phase 2 study of the once-daily drug were presented in San Diego at the annual meeting of the American Diabetes Association and published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
At the multi-dose trial’s 26-week main endpoint, Lilly said orforglipron showed statistically significant dose-dependent body weight reductions ranging from 8.6% (12mg) to 12.6% (45mg), compared with 2% for the placebo group.
For patients on orforglipron, the company said body weight continued to decrease at 36 weeks, with reductions ranging from 9.4% to 14.7%.
Lilly said the safety profile of orforglipron was similar to other incretin-based therapies. Gastrointestinal side effects were the most commonly reported adverse events, were generally mild-to-moderate and usually occurred during the initial dose escalation period.
Orforglipron, like Lilly’s injected drug Mounjaro, belongs to a class of drugs that mimic the gut hormone glucagon-like peptide-1, which act to suppress appetite and were initially developed to treat type 2 diabetes.
Lilly reported last year that a trial of Mounjaro in people who were obese or overweight but did not have diabetes found it led to weight loss of 22.5%, or about 52 pounds (24kg).
“We recognize that obesity is a global epidemic and there is a need for a variety of effective medications and administration routes,” weight-loss specialist Dr. Sean Wharton said in a statement. “These exciting results indicate that orforglipron may be an effective, once-daily oral that can be taken without food or water restrictions.”
Lilly is slated to announce later on Friday results from a different Phase 2 trial of orforglipron designed to evaluate the drug as a treatment for adults with type 2 diabetes, as well as full results from a trial of Mounjaro in people with type 2 diabetes who were also obese or overweight.
The company is conducting Phase 3 trials of orforglipron for chronic weight management and for type 2 diabetes.
(Reporting by Deena Beasley in Los Angeles; Editing by Matthew Lewis)
