Unbelievable transformations of patients on miracle new fat-fighting jab dubbed the ‘King Kong of weight loss drugs’ which could be coming to the UK and US
- Some people already getting the drug ‘off label’ report losing over 100 pounds
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Another game-changing weight loss jab could be on its way to Britain and the US.
Tirzepatide can help people lose an average of 34.4lbs (15.6kg), trial data revealed today.
While the results are hugely promising, regulators still need to approve the once-a-week injection specifically for weight loss before it gets rolled out widely. Currently, it has only been given the greenlight for type 2 diabetes.
However, some Americans are already achieving unbelievable transformations by getting doctors to prescribe them the tirzepatide ‘off label’.
One overweight man claimed the medicine, branded as Mounjaro, helped him shed up to 100lbs (45.4kg).
Caley Svensson, from New Jersey, claimed she lost 70lbs (31.7kg) between June and March, which she credits to using Mounjaro
While not yet approved for weight loss specifically some Americans are already using it ‘off label’. One of these is Matthew Barlow, a 48-year-old health technology executive living in California, who said he has lost more than 100 pounds since November by using Mounjaro and changing his diet
Results of the huge tirzepatide trial also suggest that it’s marginally more powerful than its main rival Wegovy, produced by Danish firm Novo Nordisk, which studies suggest can help people lose between 12 to 15 per cent of their body weight. Liraglutide and Orlistat are already available on the NHS
Before-and-after pictures show the incredible transformation of Matthew Barlow, a 48-year-old health technology executive living in California.
He began using the drug in November. At the same time, he also changed his diet and lifestyle, as recommended.
‘Psychologically, you don’t want to eat. Now I can eat two bites of a dessert and be satisfied,’ he said.
One TikTok user called Kelsey, from California, said she lost 37 pounds in 100 days since she started on Mounjaro in September 2021.
Before starting her weight-loss journey, she weighed in at 250lbs (113.4kg) and described herself as ‘struggling’.
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Starting Mounjaro part-way through efforts to slim down, she said in a TikTok video ‘the weight started coming off faster than I anticipated’, adding that her ‘confidence started to come back’ as well as her happiness.
Caley Svensson, from New Jersey, claimed she lost 70lbs (31.7kg) between June and March, which she credits to using Mounjaro.
In a video posted on TikTok, she shows herself standing in front of the mirror, before she started taking the medication, when she weighed in at 225lbs (102kg), describing herself as both ‘obese’ and ‘depressed’.
The image then cuts to a much slimmer Ms Svensson part way through her weight loss experience, having lost 55lbs (24.9kg).
Ms Svensson adds: ‘It’s incredible that I found a doctor who finally was able to treat my obesity like the disease it is’.
In another video where Ms Svensson is now only 5lbs (2.3kg) away from her ideal weight, she says: ‘I finally feel like my life is under control again. I’m so happy and healthy now.’
But she has also documented some of the struggles of talking Mounjaro, describing her experience of dizziness and dry mouth.
Emily, a 31-year-old, from North-East Indiana has had one of the shocking weight-loss transformations, originally weighing in at 352lbs (159.7kg).
In a video detailing her experience, she revealed she now lost a whopping 140lbs (63.5) since startling on weight-loss injections 21 months prior.
While having taken multiple brands of hormone mimicking weight-loss jabs in her journey, including Ozempic, she has lost about 50lbs (22.7kg) since switching to Manjauro last August.
‘The incredible amount of joy that is in me when I look in the mirror now is insane,’ she said.
‘I used to cry at myself in the mirror. Now I feel like one of the cool kids.’
Emily, a 31-year-old, from North-East Indiana has had one of the shocking weight-loss transformations, originally weighing in at 352lbs (159.7kg) but now having lost a whopping 140lbs (63.5) since startling on weight-loss injections
A trial has shown the diabetes drug, tirzepatide, sold under the brand Mounjaro led to participants, who were obese or overweight losing an average of over 34 pounds (15kg)
Tumbler maker Ashely Odenweller from Columbus, Ohio also started taking Manjauro in August and revealed on Instagram that she had lost 63lbs (28.6kg) since she started.
As people share their experience of beating the bulge weight using Mounjaro, the jabs makers are also themselves seeking approval to make it a specific weight-loss medication for some patients.
The latest trial results for tirzepatide, which involved over 900 people who were obese/overweight and had diabetes, found they lost 16 per cent, about 34lbs (15.6kg), on average, over 72 weeks when also adopting a healthier lifestyle.
Critically this was far more than the people taking who only adopted the healthier lifestyle who only lost 3.3 per cent of their weight in 72 weeks.
Eli Lilly and Co, the pharmaceutical firm behind the injection, will now push to get it approved as a weight loss option in the US. A similar application will be made in the UK later this year, MailOnline understands.
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Results of the huge tirzepatide trial also suggest that it’s marginally more powerful than its main rival Wegovy, produced by Danish firm Novo Nordisk.
Both jabs work in a similar way, using an artificial hormone to trick the body into thinking it’s already full by suppressing appetite.
But tirzepatide, branded as Mounjaro and offered to patients with type 2 diabetes in the US, differs from Wegovy because it mimics the effects of two hormones, instead of just one.
The weight reduction seen in the latest trial, ‘has not been previously achieved in phase 3 trials for obesity or overweight and type 2 diabetes,’ said Jeff Emmick, Lilly senior vice president for product development.
Previous results saw it nicknamed the ‘King Kong’ of weight loss meds.
Lilly said over 86 per cent of people taking the 15mg dose achieved at least 5 per cent weight loss.
This was compared with 30.5 per cent of placebo patients over the 72-week study period.
Trial participants given a lower 10mg dose achieved average weight loss of over 13 per cent, or about 30lbs (14kg).
Nearly 82 per cent lost at least 5 per cent of their body weight.
Similar to other weight-loss jabs, patients are given an initial dose of 2.5mg once a week. This then gets increased every four weeks until the target dosage is reached.
Participants on the trial had to stick to a 500kcal per day energy deficit and perform 150 minutes of moderate exercise per week.
Lilly has said it expects a decision by US regulators by late 2023 and told MailOnline a submission to UK counterparts would be made this year.
Dr Kunal Gulati, executive director diabetes medical affairs, Lilly Northern Europe, added: ‘Preventing obesity is a key focus but it’s also vitally important that we continue to develop future treatments for obesity.
‘Lilly is committed to developing innovative solutions to help people living with obesity, and will continue to work with regulators, the health service and other agencies, so that people in the UK can benefit from treatments as they become available.’
The latest trial also published data on the reported side effects of tirzepatide.
These included about one in five participants suffering from nausea and diarrhoea, and about one in 10 reporting vomiting or diarrhoea.
Lilly said the side effects were most commonly reported during the dose escalation period.
Only about 4 per cent and 7.5 per cent of participants, in the 10mg and 15mg cohorts respectively, quit the study due to side effects.
A head-to-head trial comparing tirzepatide and semaglutide, the key ingredient in Wegovy, is planned in the future.
Trials for semaglutide have reported users losing about 15 per cent of their body weight over 16 months.
Mounjaro was first approved to treat diabetes last year.
But patients in the US are already able to get the job for weight-loss ‘off-label’ from some doctors.
One of these is Matthew Barlow, a 48-year-old health technology executive living in California, who said he has lost more than 100 pounds since November by using Mounjaro and changing his diet.
‘Psychologically, you don’t want to eat. Now I can eat two bites of a dessert and be satisfied,’ he said.
Rather than relying solely on diet, exercise and willpower to reduce weight, tirzepatide and other new drugs target the digestive and chemical pathways that underlie obesity, suppressing appetite and blunting cravings for food.
‘They have entirely changed the landscape,’ said Dr. Amy Rothberg, a University of Michigan endocrinologist who directs a virtual weight loss and diabetes program.
Research has shown that with diet and exercise alone, about a third of people will lose 5 per cent or more of their body weight, said Dr Louis Aronne, director of the Comprehensive Weight Control Center at Weill Cornell Medicine.
The above graphic shows how weight-loss drug tirzepatide works. It works to suppress hunger by mimicking hormones indicating that the body is full. It also shows the passage of food through the stomach by reducing the production of stomach acid and contractions of the muscle
The obesity medications help overcome a biological mechanism that kicks in when people diet, triggering a coordinated effort by the body to prevent weight loss.
‘That is a real physical phenomenon,’ Dr Aronne said. ‘There are a number of hormones that respond to reduced calorie intake.’
Lilly’s medication, part of a new class known as incretins, is already approved for treating diabetes.
The new drugs, which include Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic and Wegovy, are designed to activate hormones that regulate blood sugar, slow stomach emptying and decrease appetite.
Wegovy made headlines earlier this year by being the first jab of its kind to be given the greenlight by the UK’s health watchdog.
But it is expensive, estimated to cost about above £1,000 (about $1,500) per month.
Similar estimates have put the cost of tirzepatide at about £900 per month (about $1,000).
There have also been some reports from America of patients who have used the weight loss jab having their hair start to fall out in clumps.
Health chiefs have hoped more weight loss jabs coming online could drive the price down putting them in greater reach of more people.
NHS figures show that 64 per cent of British adults are overweight, with more predicted to grow fatter in the future.
Obesity doesn’t just expand British waistlines but health care costs, with the NHS spending an estimated £6.1 billion on treating weight-related disease like diabetes, heart disease and some cancers between 2014 to 2015.
In the US about 42 per cent of people are obese.
How does tirzepatide compare to other weight loss medications?
Tirzepatide
Average weight lost: 15.6kg over 72 weeks
Price: It is estimated it could cost around £900 in the UK (or about $1,000 in the US) per month
Manufacturer: Eli Lilly and Co
How it is taken: Jab
Side effects: Nausea, constipation, diarrhoea, vomiting
Liraglutide
Average weight lost: 14.1kg over 10 months
Price: £9.65 per NHS prescription. In the US has a list price of $1,349.02. However, most people don’t pay list price if they have health insurance.
Manufacturer: Novo Nordisk
How it is taken: Jab
Side effects: Nausea, constipation, vomiting, diarrhoea, headaches, dizziness
Orlistat
Average weight lost: 10.3kg over 52 weeks
Price: £9.65 per NHS prescription. In the US it can cost around $700 for 90 capsules – a month’s supply
Manufacturer: Roche
How is it taken: Tablet
Side effects: Fatty or oily stools, stomach pain, frequent bowel movements, headaches, flu-like symptoms, bloating, fatigue
Wegovy
Average weight lost: 15.3kg over 68 weeks
Price: Private clinics in the UK can give clients Ozempic off-label for just under £200 per month currently. But it is also estimated it could cost up to around £1,000 per month (about $1,500 in the US)
Manufacturer: Novo Nordisk
How is it taken: Jab
Side effects: Stomach pain, nausea, diarrhoea, constipation, fatigue, acid reflux
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