It looks like we might be able to add prediabetes and hypertension to the growing list of conditions that Eli Lilly’s “weight loss drug” tirzepatide is able to treat, after new analysis of the SURMOUNT-1 trial showed significant reductions in blood pressure and diabetes progression.
- Tizepatide (aka Mounjaro and Zepbound) is often referred to as a GLP-1, but uniquely activates both GIP and GLP-1 hormone receptors.
- Tirzepatide has already gained FDA approval for type 2 diabetes and obesity, while achieving greater weight loss than Novo Nordisk’s semaglutide.
Although tirzepatide is already widely used to treat diabetes, analysis of 1,032 obese or overweight prediabetics in the SURMOUNT-1 trial showed a whopping 94% lower risk of progressing to type 2 diabetes with tirzepatide through 176 weeks.
- During the subsequent 17-week off-treatment period, the patients began to regain weight and showed some increases in type 2 diabetes progression, resulting in a 88% diabetes risk reduction after the off-period.
A separate analysis of the SURMOUNT-1 trial’s first 72 weeks showed that tirzepatide led to lasting blood pressure control among 2,539 non-diabetic overweight/obese adults, leading to 6.8 mm Hg systolic and 4.2 mm Hg diastolic net reductions (mostly occurring in first 24 weeks).
- By the end of the trial, 58% of tirzepatide-takers had normal BP versus 35.2% of placebo-takers.
- Notably, weight loss drove around 70% of the blood pressure reductions.
Although Lilly might not specifically seek approvals for hypertension or prediabetes, these studies add to the growing body of evidence that tirzepatide’s impact goes far beyond weight loss and diabetes.
- Lilly is already seeking tirzepatide’s FDA approval as a sleep apnea treatment, and recently released data showing that it slashes heart failure events and significantly reduces patients’ MASH severity.
That’s a lot of future possibilities for a drug that generated $4.35B in the second quarter alone – despite supply constraints, limited payor coverage, and fierce competition from Novo Nordisk’s semaglutide.
The Takeaway
Tirzepatide was already one of the hottest drugs in the world, and these studies suggest that weight loss and diabetes care could prove to be just one part of its massive impact, especially when you consider that 98 million American adults are prediabetic and 120 million have high blood pressure.
