Next weight-loss breakthrough? AstraZeneca tests a daily pill - Elecoglipron
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "Next weight-loss breakthrough? AstraZeneca tests a daily pill - Elecoglipron")
Next weight-loss breakthrough? AstraZeneca tests a daily pill Photograph: (Credit: Pexels/Representative image)
AstraZeneca’s daily weight-loss pill elecoglipron delivers 11.8% body weight reduction in a Phase 2 trial, setting up a clash with Novo and Eli Lilly.
A new oral drug developed by British pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca could mark the firm's entry into the highly lucrative weight-loss market. According to Phase 2 trial results published in medical journal The Lancet, the pill called 'elepeglitron', helps patients lose weight comparable to other oral GLP-1 drugs. The surging popularity of injectable GLP-1 agonists, which work by suppressing appetite, has triggered an industry-wide race to develop more convenient tablet alternatives. Currently, the multi-billion-dollar market is dominated by Denmark’s Novo Nordisk and America’s Eli Lilly.
The randomised trial for elecoglipron involved 310 participants. For overweight or obese adults without diabetes, the highest-dose group achieved average weight reductions of up to 10.5% at 26 weeks and 11.8% at 36 weeks. The side effects recorded during the trial were similar to those of competing GLP-1 pills, with nausea reported as the most common issue.
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Marie Spreckley, a weight management researcher from the University of Cambridge who was not involved in the study, noted that the Phase 2 trial was not primarily designed to compare elecoglipron directly against other anti-obesity medications. She emphasised and was quoted in news agency AFP, “Larger and longer phase 3 trials will therefore be needed to confirm the durability of these effects, establish longer-term safety and tolerability, and determine its place within the growing range of obesity and diabetes treatments.”
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AstraZeneca faces intense competition, as rivals have already advanced their own tablet options. Eli Lilly’s oral version of its popular drug Mounjaro was approved in the United States in April under the brand name Foundayo. Meanwhile, Novo Nordisk's oral version of its blockbuster drug Wegovy is already available to consumers in the US and recently received regulatory approval from European Union health authorities last month.
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