New obesity pill helps patients lose 11% of body weight, study finds

An international clinical trial involving Barcelona's Vall d'Hebron Hospital has shown that a new pill, orforglipron, is effective in treating obesity.

The drug led to an average weight loss of 11% and improved cardiovascular risk factors, according to the study.

It also avoids some of the common limitations associated with currently available injectable and oral treatments.

The results, from a phase 3 trial, were published in the New England Journal of Medicine and presented at the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) conference in Vienna.

Researchers say the approval process could begin in the coming months, potentially expanding the range of treatment options available to patients with obesity.

More than diet and exercise

Dr Andreea Ciudin, the only European author of the study and head of the Obesity Treatment Unit at Vall d'Hebron Hospital, explains that until recently, the recommended approach for patients was simply to "eat less and move more."

"We've seen that this doesn't work," she told the Catalan News Agency (ACN). "You can't treat a disease with genetic, hormonal, and metabolic causes with just diet and exercise."

Ciudin, also a lead researcher in the Diabetes and Metabolism group at the Vall d'Hebron Research Institute (VHIR), notes that the emergence of anti-obesity drugs offers patients more treatment options.

With the help of artificial intelligence, which has sped up the process of creating new molecules, more medications are expected to become available soon, including orforglipron.

"The future looks promising," Ciudin says.

Obesity is considered one of today's major public health challenges and is a leading cause of complications such as high blood pressure, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. It affects 16% of the adult population in Catalonia.

Study results

The trial monitored 3,100 adults with obesity but without diabetes across nine countries for approximately 18 months. All participants had a BMI over 30 kg/m², or between 27 and 30 kg/m² with an obesity-related condition, such as hypertension, cardiovascular disease, or sleep apnea.

Participants were randomly assigned to receive daily capsules of orforglipron at different doses (6 mg, 12 mg, or 36 mg) or a placebo, combined with general recommendations on healthy eating and physical activity.

The results showed that the highest dose of orforglipron led to an average weight loss of 11.2%. More than half of the participants lost at least 10% of their body weight, and around one in five lost over 20%.