Tirzepatide Associated with More Weight Loss than Placebo Regardless of Obesity-related Comorbidities, New Research Finds

Regardless of the number of obesity-related comorbidities (ORC) at baseline, all tirzepatide doses (5 mg, 10 mg, 15 mg) were associated with a greater reduction in body weight than placebo in a post-hoc analysis of the phase 3 SURMOUNT-1 clinical trial.

The findings were presented at ObesityWeek^® 2022, held in San Diego, CA, and virtually, November 1-4, 2022.

“Obesity increases the risk of multiple co-morbidities,” wrote researchers in the study abstract. “Little is known about the impact of this multimorbidity on weight reduction outcomes.”

With the aim to explore the association between obesity-related multimorbidity and the weight-reduction efficacy of the novel GIP/GLP-1 receptor agonist, investigators conducted a post-hoc analysis of data from the SURMOUNT-1 clinical trial.

SURMOUNT-1 included adults aged ≥18 years with a body mass index of ≥30 kg/m² or ≥27 kg/m² and at least 1 weight-related comorbidity (hypertension, dyslipidemia, obstructive sleep apnea, or cardiovascular disease), except for diabetes. Participants were assigned to receive either once-weekly, subcutaneous tirzepatide (5 mg, 10 mg, 15 mg) or placebo for 72 weeks.

Participants reported any history of ORC at baseline and researchers evaluated 10 ORC, excluding prediabetes, according to the abstract. Investigators grouped SURMOUNT-1 participants by the number of baseline ORC [0 (n=944; 37%), 1 (n=686; 27%), or ≥2 (n=909; 36%)].

Results

At week 72, there was no statistically significant interaction (p=0.373) between tirzepatide treatment and number of ORC at baseline.

The percent body weight reduction in tirzepatide groups vs placebo was: -13.5%, -13.5%, and -13.6% for 5mg; -20.4%, -18.4%, and -17.8% for 10 mg; and -20.2%, -18.9%, and -20.7% for 15 mg, for persons in the 0, 1, and ≥ 2 baseline ORC groups, respectively.

“Thus, treatment differences in percent reduction from baseline in body weight for each of the 3 doses of tirzepatide vs placebo were consistent across all ORC groups,” added authors.

These findings are consistent with the overall results from SURMOUNT-1, noted the team.

Reference: Machineni SJD, Yu M, Dunn JP, et al. Effect of tirzepatide on body weight reduction by number of obesity-related complications. Presented at ObesityWeek® 2022; November 1-4, 2022; San Diego, CA.