Scientific trials of a new diabetes and weight loss pill that does not require fasting or strict dietary restrictions have shown it to be more effective than alternative pills that do. Although weight-loss treatments have proliferated in recent years, the findings could be game-changing for individuals working to lose weight and reduce their risk of diabetes, especially those who fear injections or want to travel and eat at normal mealtimes, benefiting from the convenience of pill-based treatments that can be taken with or without food.
The study, published in medical journal The Lancet, looked at orforglipron, which is a non-peptide (GLP1) activator designed to trigger biological responses that help to control critical functions like metabolism. It is taken in pill form. The researchers compared the effect of the drug to other oral treatments called semaglutides that entail food and water restrictions.
For a year, across five different countries (Argentina, China, Japan, Mexico, and the USA), more than 1,600 type 2 diabetes sufferers already treated unsuccessfully with the blood glucose leveller metformin, took part in randomised trials where they received varying doses of orforglipron or semaglutide, orally, once a day.
The effect of either 12 mg or 36mg doses of orforglipron was “non-inferior and superior” or at least as good as, if not better than, oral doses of semaglutide in promoting weight loss—a key factor in improving diabetes outcomes. The drug had previously been shown to give an average weight loss of 8.2 versus 5.3 for the semaglutide treatments, a result described as “clinically quite relevant,” by Cristóbal Morales, Head of the Metabolic Health, Diabetes and Obesity Unit at Vithas Hospital in Seville and member of the Spanish Society for the Study of Obesity (SEEDO), not an author of the study.
Highlighting the benefits of a needle-free treatment that does not demand fasting, Morales said such approaches “facilitate earlier use and enable us to reach more people, as well as facilitating treatment according to each patient’s preference.”
The study was funded by pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly, the manufacturer behind the orforglipron pill, as well as once-weekly weight-loss injectables like Mounjaro and Zepbound. “For the majority of patients, this could be the main medicine that they need to control their Type 2 diabetes as well as their obesity,” Eli Lilly Chief Scientific Officer Dan Skovronsky told CNBC in an interview.
It should be noted that orforglipron is not yet market-approved by clinical authorities and had a higher rate of “mild to moderate” stomach problems and adverse events, and a higher mean increase in pulse rate than seen with oral semaglutides.
