Mounjaro wins bragging rights over Ozempic in a new weight-loss study—though it's one that was funded by the maker of Mounjaro. Researchers found that those taking tirzepatide, marketed as Mounjaro and Zepbound, lost about 20% of their body weight over 72 weeks, according to the study published in the New England Journal of Medicine. By comparison, users of semaglutide, known as Ozempic and Wegovy, saw a 14% reduction. That amounts to a difference of about 8 pounds, reports CBS News.
One caveat: The study was funded by Eli Lilly, the maker of tirzepatide, "so you always need to take that with a grain of salt," says CBS medical contributor Dr. Celine Gounder. However, she adds that the study "does look legit, and we have seen hints of this in other studies." The study looked at about 750 adults with obesity, per PA Media. All had at least one related complication, such as heart disease or sleep apnea, and none had type 2 diabetes. "Our study shows that treatment with tirzepatide was superior to semaglutide with respect to reduction in body weight and waist circumference," said Dr. Louis Aronne of the Weill Cornell Medicine in New York.
He suggested the drug's "dual" action might explain why. "Tirzepatide, while a single molecule, pharmacologically activates two metabolic receptors, GIP and GLP-1, which have both overlapping and non-overlapping expression and function." The study is seen as perhaps the first major one to provide a head-to-head comparison, though it was not the "gold standard" of such research because the patients knew which drug they were taking, per a news release at Weill. (This content was created with the help of AI. Read our AI policy.)
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