United States: A new study shows that a medicine called Tirzepatide, known as Mounjaro for diabetes and Zepbound for weight loss, can greatly help people who are at risk of getting diabetes.
Weight Loss Results: Tirzepatide vs. Placebo
As reported by US News, the study found that this particular medicine can almost lower the chances of developing diabetes by 94% for people who are obese and have prediabetes. Over three years, people taking the medicine lost an average of 22.9% of their body weight, while those who took a fake version of the medicine lost only 2.1%. This news is exciting because it means Tirzepatide might be a big help for people trying to manage their weight and prevent diabetes.
Comparing Tirzepatide and Semaglutide
Tirzepatide is a computer GLP-1 drug to semaglutide which is made by Novo Nordisk, and which is branded as Ozempic for diabetes and Wegovy for weight loss. Sales of both tirzepatide and semaglutide and have boomed in very recent years as people bock to the drugs to help lose excess weight.
Tirzepatide and semaglutide are claimed to enhance insulin secretion and thus have a positive effect on the satiety and hunger regulation.
Both were initially developed for the treatment of diabetes mellitus Nonetheless; the drugs were both.
Study Details: Trial Design and Findings
In the new trial, 1,032 patients, diagnosed with prediabetes and either obesity or overweight status, were given either a “sham” injection once weekly, or were injected with tirzepatide at doses of almost 5 mg, 10 mg, or we can take upto 15 mg once weekly for 176 weeks, in total of three years.
Side Effects and Post-Treatment Observations
Participants who were considered to be having prediabetic status were those who had other illnesses including but not limited to heart disease, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and/or sleep apnea.
Patients were also put on a diet and an exercise regime and randomly assigned to tirzepatide or a placebo treatment.
Besides the big benefit in preventing the onset of diabetes and the sustained weight loss, participants’ ability to lose weight rose along with the dose of tirzepatide: 15. For the individuals that took the 5mg doses the weight amount lost at the end was 4% of starting weight and the average weight amount lost by all the participants was 19. 9% with 10 mg and 22%; with 20 mg, respectively, when compared to 25% in the placebo group who showed a positive response. It was slightly less with 9% at 15 mg dose.
Still, regaining a portion of the weight did seem to occur when people ceased taking tirzepatide.
Conclusion
As Lilly has reported, during the subsequent 17 weeks after they stopped treatment, “those who had discontinued from tirzepatide began to regain weight and had some increase in the progression to type 2 diabetes, as evidenced by an 88 percent reduction from baseline. in the risk of progression to type 2 diabetes compared to placebo.”
What about side effects? “The adverse events most often mentioned were usually gastrointestinal in nature and for the most part were moderate in severity,” the company said. Gastro-intestinal complaints reported were diarrhoea, nausea, constipations and vomiting.
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