Approval of Tirzepatide for Treating Obesity 'Exciting'

This transcript has been edited for clarity.

Recently, the FDA approved tirzepatide for the treatment of obesity. It has another funny name, Zepbound, and we'll all get used to it. It's very much like tirzepatide for the treatment of type 2 diabetes, meaning it comes in those prefilled syringes at a dose starting at 2.5 mg and then going up to 5 mg, 7.5 mg, 10 mg, 12.5 mg, and 15 mg.

We're used to using tirzepatide as Mounjaro for the treatment of type 2 diabetes, but now it's been approved for the treatment of obesity. The approval basically came from data obtained during the SURMOUNT-1 and -2 trials, which looked first at the treatment of obesity in people without diabetes and the treatment of obesity in people with type 2 diabetes. The average weight loss in those trials was 48 lb. In patients without diabetes, the rate of weight loss was 23%. In those with type 2 diabetes, it was 16%.

The indication is for people with a BMI ≥ 30 or a BMI ≥ 27 with obesity-related complications, including hypertension, dyslipidemia, and type 2 diabetes. That's a pretty broad indication, and it will mean that we can prescribe this for patients for the treatment of obesity. I think it will become widely used with the caveat, obviously, that insurers will need to pay for this indication for the use of tirzepatide.

I think it's really exciting to have another agent for use in the treatment of obesity in our patients who need such treatment.

This has been Dr Anne Peters. Thank you.

Anne L. Peters, MD, is a professor of medicine at the University of Southern California (USC) Keck School of Medicine and director of the USC clinical diabetes programs. She has published more than 200 articles, reviews, and abstracts, and three books, on diabetes, and has been an investigator for more than 40 research studies. She has spoken internationally at over 400 programs and serves on many committees of several professional organizations.

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Cite this: Approval of Tirzepatide for Treating Obesity 'Exciting' - Medscape - Nov 16, 2023.

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