Trial finds weight loss drug taken monthly helps people lose 20% of body weight – but adverse GI events were ‘common’

The new drug may rival other weight loss medications such as Ozempic and Mounjaro

A new trial has found that a weight loss drug taken monthly helps people to lose 20 percent of their body weight.

Other weight loss medications such as Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro have become popular in the U.S. Now, researchers are testing a new GLP-1 drug known as MariTide that could be competitive in the market.

MariTide, from the California drugmaker Amgen, is different from the other weight loss drugs as it also has a monoclonal antibody, which allows the medication to stay in the body longer, according to NBC News.

In a new trial published in The New England Journal of Medicine, physicians from Yale School of Medicine and other institutions analyzed the health of nearly 600 participants. They were broken up into two groups: those with obesity and people with both Type 2 diabetes and obesity.

The trial found that those with obesity alone who were treated with MariTide lost up to about 20 percent of their body weight, on average, after 52 weeks. Those with obesity alone who didn’t take the MariTide only lost up to 2.6 percent of their body weight, on average.

A new trial has found that a weight loss drug taken monthly helps people to lose 20 percent of their body weight. It’s made by drugmaker Amgen (Getty Images)

Participants who had diabetes and obesity lost an average of up to 17 percent of their body weight, while taking MariTide, according to the study’s authors. Those with both diseases who weren’t on MariTide lost up to 1.4 percent of their body weight, on average.

"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," Dr. Jay Bradner, executive vice president of Research and Development at Amgen, said in a statement announcing the results.

MariTide researchers said gastrointestinal issues were “common” with the drug, but the drug's side effects are similar to those of other GLP-1 medications. They include nausea, abdominal pain, and vomiting.

“Gastrointestinal adverse events were common with maridebart cafraglutide, although less frequent with dose escalation and a lower starting dose. No unexpected safety signals emerged,” they wrote.

Notably, drug needs to be given at a low starting dose to limit those side effects and there were high discontinuation rates in mid-stage trial. The company plans to adjust its dosing, STAT News noted.

The company said it plans to start additional studies this year in patients with multiple serious health issues.

Other weight loss medications are taken weekly. Amgen said it plans to start additional studies this year in patients with multiple serious health issues (Sebastien Bozon/AFP via Getty Images)

Ozempic and similar drugs can help patients lose 15 to 20 percent of their body weight, according to Columbia University’s Department of Surgery. Ozempic and other GLP-1 medications are taken weekly, but MariTide only needs to be taken monthly, making it more convenient for patients.

“It’s always just easier for patients to only have to take something once per month,” Dr. Michelle Ponder, an assistant professor of medicine at Duke University School of Medicine in North Carolina, told NBC.

Ponder, who wasn’t a part of the MariTide trial, added: “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.”