Innovative new research shows that orforglipron, a pill taken orally just once a day, leads to weight loss of 20% or more. The research was funded by manufacturer Eli Lillyand published through The New England Journal of Medicine, has found that orforglipron, which is technically an oral glucagon-like peptide-1 (known simply as GLP-1), much like ozempic or wegovy, leads to significant weight loss in obese people who do not have type 2 diabetes, making it a potential new treatment that could be easily accessible to the general public.
In clinical trials, participants received various doses, including 36 mg of Orforglipron, for 72 weeks. Of those who followed this protocol, 18.4% reduced their weight by 20% or more, and more than half lost 10% or more. Other metrics such as waist circumference, blood pressure and non-HDL cholesterol levels also fell.
As expected, there were some side effects given that orforglipron is a GLP-1 drug, but this resulted in a discontinuation rate of 5-10% due to mild to moderate gastrointestinal effects. The benefits are clear, however, as other GLP-1 receptor agonists such as semaglutide must be administered via subcutaneous injections, limiting the number of people willing to try and then adhere to these types of medications.
Patients receiving Orforglipron had an average weight reduction of more than 10%
“A weight reduction of 10% or more is a recognized therapeutic threshold, one that has been associated with meaningful cardiometabolic benefits,” said study leader Dr. Sean Wharton and colleagues from McMaster University in HamiltonON, Canada. “In our current study, patients receiving orforgliprone had an average weight reduction of as much as 11.2%, and such reductions were associated with improvements in systolic and diastolic blood pressure levels, as well as in blood fats, blood sugar profiles and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein – a marker of systemic inflammation.”
The study was extensive and included a highly diverse cross-section of people from nine provinces, with 35% of the study involving men. Still, the experts now want to compare these results with existing GLP-1 treatments in future studies and open up the experiment to different weight classes to see who benefits most. If the drug is approved in the future, replacing a needle with a pill could have far-reaching consequences. “This could mean an expansion of obesity interventions to groups currently excluded due to the cost of and lack of access to injectable medications,” Wharton said.
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