02 · Clinical Findings
Tirzepatide's highest trial dose took off 24.5% of body weight
Bariatric surgery has been the ceiling in obesity medicine, and a weekly injection just drew level with it.
Adults in the SURMOUNT-1 trial who began with a body mass index between 35 and 40 and took the 15 mg weekly dose of tirzepatide reduced their body weight by 24.5%. Bariatric surgery is associated with about 25%. Across the 5 to 15 mg range, 73% to 90% of participants lost at least 10% of what they started at.
Weight change of that size used to require an operating room. SURMOUNT-1 randomized 2,539 adults without type 2 diabetes who had obesity, or excess weight plus at least one related complication, and the four body-mass bands moved together rather than one group carrying the whole result. These are findings presented at ObesityWeek 2022, a medical meeting, and a trial population is not a clinic population.
Nobody in SURMOUNT-1 had type 2 diabetes, so the 24.5% figure says nothing about people living with that condition, and every participant also followed a reduced-calorie diet and more physical activity, so the injection was never tested alone. What is still unknown is how much of the change holds once the weekly injection stops. Any of this belongs with a qualified clinician who knows a person's health history.
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