Having to take Ozempic or other weight loss drugs can be a real pain in the ass, with users often having to jab themselves once each week. In newly released clinical trial data, Amgen’s once-monthly experimental drug MariTide performed as well as or even better than the existing blockbuster GLP-1 medications semaglutide and tirzepatide.
People taking MariTide consistently lost more weight than those on placebo, with some losing up to 20% of their baseline weight over a year’s time. Amgen is moving ahead to Phase III trials of MariTide, setting the stage for a fierce competition among the next generation of obesity drugs. Amgen presented the full results of its Phase II trial of MariTide this week at the annual American Diabetes Association meeting; the results were also published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Like semaglutide (Ozempic and Wegovy) and tirzepatide (Zepbound and Mounjaro) before it, MariTide mimics GLP-1, a hormone important to regulating our hunger and blood sugar. But the injectable medication has a few new tricks up its sleeve. The drug additionally carries a molecule that targets GIP, another important hunger-related hormone. Interestingly enough, tirzepatide mimics GIP, but MariTide inhibits it (that suggests GIP’s role in controlling our weight is plenty complicated). The experimental drug also contains a lab-made antibody designed to keep it lingering in our system for a long time, so it’s intended to be taken monthly or once every two months, compared to the weekly shots needed for semaglutide and tirzepatide.
The Phase II trial involved nearly 600 adults, some of whom had type 2 diabetes and others with only obesity. In those with obesity only, people lost up to 20% of their weight on average over a 52-week span (those on placebo lost an average of 2.6% body weight). People with type 2 diabetes lost on average up to 17% of their weight. These results, while not directly comparable at this point, are on par with the clinical trial data of the latest GLP-1 drugs. And since participants were still continuing to shed pounds by the study’s end, it’s possible that the typical weight loss seen with MariTide might be even higher.
“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,” said Jay Bradner, executive vice president of research and development at Amgen, in a statement from the company.
Not everything with MariTide is sunshine and puppies, however. Rates of vomiting were much higher among certain groups of people on MariTide, for instance, which likely contributed to a higher rate of people dropping out before the study’s end. But some data also suggest this side effect can be dampened by gradually raising people’s doses over time, similar to how existing GLP-1 drugs are managed.
Amgen will fully test out this staggered dosing strategy in its Phase III 72-week-long trial of MariTide for people with obesity and Type 2 diabetes, which has already begun enrollment. The company also plans to launch Phase III trials for cardiovascular disease, sleep apnea, and heart failure. But it’s far from alone in the arms race to develop more effective or practical obesity treatments. Dozens of other candidates are in the pipeline, each with their own possible advantages over today’s drugs, such as being available via a pill or coming without the gastrointestinal side effects common to GLP-1s.
Not all of these experimental drugs will work out, of course, but it seems likely that semaglutide and tirzepatide soon won’t be the only options available for people with obesity.
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