Weight loss injectables are on the rise, sending ripples through Atlanta’s health and fitness community. It’s a nationwide trend that takes advantage of Type 2 diabetes drugs, but the results are not always the same from brand to brand.
Health data analytics company Truveta recently put its researchers to task analyzing the electronic records of more than 18,000 overweight or obese adults. All of them used one of the newly popular weight loss drugs from May 2022 through September 2023. Published in JAMA, the study discovered tirzepatide injections were more effective at shedding weight than semaglutide. These medications represent some of the most popular weight management treatment brands.
Both medications have been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat Type 2 diabetes and obesity, and they can be found under various names. Eli Lilly manufactures tirzepatide under the name Mounjaro for diabetes treatment and Zepbound for weight management. Novo Nordisk manufacturers semaglutide under the name Ozempic for diabetes treatment and Wegovy for weight management.
“To our knowledge, this study represents the first clinical comparative effectiveness study of tirzepatide and semaglutide in adults with overweight or obesity,” the researchers reported.
According to the study, although both treatments proved effective at shedding pounds, 82% of tirzepatide users lost 5% of their starting body weight compared to only 67% of semaglutide users. Tirzepatide users also had twice the chance of losing 15% of their starting weight after one year of use. Over time, tirzepatide users simply lost more weight. One year in, semaglutide users lost only 8% of their starting weight.
“In this large, propensity-matched, cohort study, individuals with overweight or obesity treated with tirzepatide were significantly more likely to achieve clinically meaningful weight loss and larger reductions in body weight compared with those treated with semaglutide,” the researchers said.
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