A PILL from the makers of Ozempic and Wegovy leads to faster and longer-lasting weight loss than the popular ‘skinny jabs’, a trial suggests.
Researchers found amycretin, which is taken daily, helped patients lose an average of 13 per cent of their body weight in 12 weeks.
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This compares to just six per cent in three months and 15 per cent after 68 weeks when injecting Wegovy – the ‘sister jab’ of Ozempic which contains the same active ingredient, semaglutide, that’s shown to help treat type 2 diabetes and obesity.
Experts hope amycretin could be a “cheap and convenient” alternative.
Naveed Sattar, professor of cardiometabolic medicine and honorary consultant at the University of Glasgow, who was not involved in the study, said: “The more medicines coming forward to treat obesity, the better, as this gives more chance to find safe and efficacious medicines, especially tablets that could be more easily available (and cheaper) for the many millions around the world struggling with obesity and its complications.
“This early phase research on a new oral combination is exciting given the speed of weight loss seen.”
Developed by Novo Nordisk, amycretin works in the same way as the injections, by mimicking the hormone GLP-1 that makes you feel full and stop over-eating.
However, it also mimics a different hormone called amylin, which seems to make it more potent still.
In early trials, overweight or obese participants without diabetes were given increasing doses of amycretin, or a placebo.
Those taking 50mg typically reduced their body weight by 10.4 per cent at the end of the 12-week trial.
Others given two 50mg tablets lost an average of 13.1 per cent.
This compared to an average weight loss of 1.1 per cent among those taking the dummy drug, according to the findings presented at the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) in Madrid, Spain.
Notably, at the end of the treatment period, weight loss had not reached a plateau for participants taking amycretin, indicating the potential for further weight loss with extended use.
The authors said: “A single molecule that targets both amylin and GLP-1 biology in a tablet form could offer a more convenient approach to achieving better outcomes for individuals with overweight or obesity.”
They said the medicine appeared safe and tolerable, but larger and longer studies are needed to fully assess the drug.
The researchers found the pill produced similar side effects to other weight loss medicines, including “mild to moderate” nausea, vomiting and other gastrointestinal issues.
Increasing the number of options available in the market will likely bring down the costs of these classes of medications
Dr Nerys Astbury
Dr Nerys Astbury, associate professor of diet and obesity at the University of Oxford, said: “With so many already living with obesity, there will be considerable work to treat and care for this group of individuals in the NHS.
“Having a greater range of safe and effective prescription medications opens up the pharmaceutical treatment options for people living with obesity.
“It is possible that some people might find the oral (pill) medications more acceptable than the injectable GLP-1 agonists currently available.
“These injectable (GLP-1 agonist) medications are currently expensive, which raises challenges to a taxpayer funded health system like the NHS.
“But increasing the number of pharmacotherapy options available in the market will introduce competition and likely bring down the costs of these classes of medications in the longer-term.”
Prof Sattar added: “Far larger scale trials will be needed to test such medicines in due course, including its effect on disease outcomes.”
