Eli Lilly’s diabetes and weight-loss drug is as effective for cardio conditions as its older heart-health medication
Eli Lilly’s blockbuster diabetes and weight-loss drug, Mounjaro, was just as effective at preventing heart attacks and strokes as its older diabetes and cardiovascular treatment, Trulicity, the drugmaker announced on Thursday.
Mounjaro is currently only approved to treat Type 2 diabetes in the US, while Trulicity is approved for both Type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular risk reduction. Zepbound, a differently branded drug with the same active ingredient as Mounjaro, is approved for weight loss in the US. Mounjaro is also approved for weight loss in other jurisdictions in Europe as well as India.
Per CNBC:
“The difference in the rate of death from any cause between Mounjaro and Trulicity is ‘really quite profound’ and ‘definitely something clinically meaningful to us as clinicians,’ said Dr. David Broome, clinical assistant professor at the division of metabolism, endocrinology and diabetes at the University of Michigan’s department of internal medicine.”
Lilly said it plans to submit the data to regulators by the end of the year, in hopes of expanding the conditions its most lucrative drug can be prescribed for. Novo Nordisk’s weight-loss and diabetes drugs, Wegovy and Ozempic, are already approved to treat cardiovascular conditions in the US.
