A new weight loss jab could soon overtake Ozempic and Mounjaro as the top competitors.
The two drugs have dominated the weight loss market for the last few years, but it looks like a new monthly injection could be set to change things.
The GLP-1 drug is known as MariTide, and the company behind it, Amgen, has just conducted clinical trials.
While MariTide works similarly to other GLP-1 drugs by making the user feel full in order to decrease food intake, there is one key difference. This drug also contains a monoclonal antibody, a lab-produced protein that imitates the body’s natural antibodies.
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As the drug will remain in the body for longer, this means that people will only need to administer the injection once a month instead of every week.
Speaking to NBC News, Dr Michelle Ponder said: “It’s always just easier for patients to only have to take something once per month. A lot of patients we see in endocrinology are diabetes patients, and so they’d be taking multiple shots of insulin per day. And so, every last shot matters, even if it’s three less shots per month.”
The findings of the recent studies into the effectiveness of MariTide were published in the New England Journal of Medicine on Monday (June 23) before being presented at the annual meeting of the American Diabetes Association.
Researchers observed the impact of the weight loss drug on almost 600 adults who were divided into two groups: people with Type 2 diabetes and obesity in one, and people with just obesity in the other.
Over a period of 12 months, each participant was given one of three doses of MariTide or a placebo, which were to be taken once a month for the year.
The trial found that those with obesity alone were found to have lost up to 20% of their body weight on average after taking MariTide for 52 weeks. In comparison, those in the placebo group lost just 2.6%.
Jay Bradner, M.D., who is the executive vice president of Research and Development at Amgen, said of the study: "MariTide delivered strong efficacy, including sustained weight loss without a plateau in the 52-week Phase 2 study and meaningful improvements in cardiometabolic risk factors, representing a defining advance for the obesity field.
"These results, alongside the Phase 1 Pharmacokinetics Low Dose Initiation data, have shaped our Phase 3 MARITIME program.
"MariTide's monthly or less frequent dosing has the potential to improve adherence and long-term weight control, providing the opportunity to optimize health outcomes for people living with obesity, Type 2 diabetes and related conditions."