Pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly on Thursday made an announcement—not that insulin is free now, but that a different drug it makes helped obese, diabetic patients shed almost 16 percent of their body weight over nearly 17 months. The drug, tirzepatide, which is marketed under the brand name Mounjaro, is currently approved only to treat Type 2 diabetes. Eli Lilly said Thursday that the data from its new study would be used in an application to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for fast-tracked approval to sell Mounjaro as a weight-loss treatment. The trial used 938 adults with Type 2 diabetes who were either obese or overweight, with researchers giving participants a weekly injection of either Mounjaro or a placebo for up to 72 weeks. Participants on Mounjaro were either given a 10-milligram or 15-milligram dose, with the most significant results being reflected in those in the 15-milligram pool, with an average weight loss of 15.7 percent of their body weight, or 34 pounds. “It is quite compelling,” Michael Mason, president of Eli Lilly’s diabetes unit, told The Wall Street Journal. “That is a very meaningful weight loss for someone who lives with obesity and Type 2 diabetes.”
