AIBRIEF
A 367 person Phase 2 trial found Lilly's two drug combo—an amylin (satiety hormone) drug layered on top of tirzepatide, the GLP 1 drug sold as Mounjaro and Zepbound—beat top dose tirzepatide alone on weight and blood sugar, with up to 27%
Adults with obesity and type 2 diabetes lost an average of about 54 pounds on a Lilly two-drug combination over 48 weeks, roughly 8 percentage points more weight than tirzepatide alone. The Phase 2 result, presented at the EASD meeting in Milan, is the first head-to-head look at layering an amylin drug (a satiety hormone) on top of the dual GIP/GLP-1 drug sold as Mounjaro and Zepbound.
In the 367-person trial registered as NCT06603571, the top combination dose (eloralintide 9 mg plus tirzepatide 15 mg) cut mean weight by 23.3% versus 14.8% on tirzepatide 15 mg alone and 3.0% on placebo. It also lowered A1C by 2.9 percentage points, against 2.4 on tirzepatide alone and 0.3 on placebo. Lower-dose combinations landed between 13.2% and 19.9%.
The catch was tolerability: up to about 27% of combination-arm participants stopped treatment because of side effects, compared with roughly 2.9% on tirzepatide alone. The weight-loss numbers also use an "efficacy estimand," a treatment-effect measure that assumes everyone stayed on the drug, so real-world results are likely smaller.
The data have not been peer-reviewed. Lead author Dr. Liana Billings of Endeavor Health told the meeting that a Phase 3 program is being planned.