STAT+: Pharmalittle: Lilly wins FDA approval for a weight-loss drug; AstraZeneca enters the race for an obesity pill
Eli Lilly’s blockbuster drug tirzepatide, sold as Mounjaro for type 2 diabetes, has been cleared to treat obesity, for which it will be sold as Zepbound.
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Eli Lilly’s blockbuster drug tirzepatide, sold as Mounjaro for type 2 diabetes, has been cleared to treat obesity, making it the second in a highly effective class of weight loss medications to enter the market, STAT reports. The long-awaited U.S. regulatory approval of the injectable drug, which will be marketed as Zepbound for obesity, is a milestone for Lilly. It also introduces stiff competition for Novo Nordisk, which has had to limit starter doses of its obesity treatment Wegovy due to ongoing shortages. Novo’s Wegovy, and its diabetes drug Ozempic, has been shown in trials to cut around 15% of body weight, while Zepbound has shown up to 21% weight loss in trials.
Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), the highest-ranking Republican on the U.S. Senate health policy committee, vehemently opposes Medicare negotiating drug pricing, and floated another possibility, at least for blockbuster obesity drugs: Federal agencies could take the lead on researching ways to transition people off the medicines, STAT tells us. Cassidy spoke recently to an economist who suggested that the U.S. National Institutes of Health “should craft sponsor studies where (a patient) would have a year’s worth of treatment, and then you would substitute for Ozempic a dietary therapy” like meal deliveries.
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