John Ely Deputy Health Editor for Mailonline
4:00 p.m. July 8, 2024, updated 4:22 p.m. July 8, 2024
Dubbed the ‘King Kong’ of the next generation of slimming, Mounjaro defeated his rival Ozempica in a head-to-head battle with bulging waists.
US researchers built two drugs that work by mimicking the hormone that makes people feel full in a study of more than 18,000 adults who received one of the weekly injections for up to a year.
At the end of the study, patients taking tirsepatide, a component of Mounjaro, were 224 percent more likely to lose about a sixth of their body weight than patients taking Ozempic.
People on Mounjaro, made by US pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly, also lost up to 7 percent more weight on average than those taking semaglutide, an ingredient in Ozempic.
The researchers also found that there was no increased risk of adverse side effects such as diarrhea between the two drugs.
In a study published in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine, experts compared health data from two cohorts of adult patients with type 2 diabetes who took the jab for up to a year.
Of the 18,386 patients, half took Mounjaro and the other half Ozempic.
Patients had a similar initial weight to those in the Mounjaro cohort at 110 kg (about 17.4 lb) and the Ozempic group at a slightly lighter 109 kg (17.1 lb).
The researchers compared how likely each group was to reach certain weight loss goals, as well as how much weight they lost on average during certain time periods of the study.
By weight loss goals, Mounjaro was the clear winner with 82 percent of patients losing at least 5 percent of their total weight, compared to 66 percent in the Ozempic cohort.
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About 60 percent of Mounjaro patients lost 10 percent of their body weight, compared with nearly 40 percent of Ozempic patients.
In the end, about 42 percent of Mounjara patients lost 15 percent of their body weight, compared to just 18 percent of Ozempic patients.
This equates to a 76% increased chance of Mounjar patients reaching their 5% weight loss goal, an 84% increased chance of losing 10% of their starting weight, and a whopping 224% increased chance of losing 15 percent or more, the researchers said.
Mounjaro was also the clear leader in terms of average weight loss over the course of the study with respect to three-month, six-month and one-year intervals.
The experts found that on average, people on Mounjar lost 2.4 percent, 4.3 percent, and 6.9 percent more weight at these points compared to those on Ozempic.
Despite the increased weight loss seen in the Mounjaro group, the researchers found no difference in reported gastrointestinal side effects, which include diarrhea and vomiting, between the two drugs.
The authors concluded: ‘In this large, propensity-matched cohort study, overweight or obese subjects treated with tirzepatide were significantly more likely to achieve clinically meaningful weight loss and greater weight reduction compared with those treated with semaglutide.’
However, the researchers noted that their findings only looked at patients with type 2 diabetes who were taking medication as part of their weight management.
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Both drugs are now also available to obese people without type 2 diabetes, although the semaglutide version for this purpose is sold under a different name, Wegovy.
The researchers said it would be interesting to see the results of a head-to-head comparison in obese patients only, noting that such a study is currently underway and results are expected to be published later this year.
The experts, who were from US health data company Truveta, added that one limitation of the study was that they could not account for the participants’ own motivation to lose weight.
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This could mean, for example, that some participants were undertaking other weight loss measures, such as diet and exercise, which could have affected the results.
Second, because both injections are typically administered by patients at home, some may not have followed the correct dosing regimen, another factor that could affect the results.
Both Mounjaro as well as Ozempic and Wego are now available in the UK and US.
Ozempic and Wego’s work by mimicking one hormone called GLP-1, while Mounjaro also does this but also mimics another hormone called GIP. GIP is thought to enhance the effect of GLP-1.
Another difference is that Mounjaro is usually given at a higher dose than its competing stings, which is another factor that could explain the results.
Fat-dissolving jabs like Mounjaro and Ozempic have been hailed on both sides of the Atlantic as a way to combat the scourge of obesity that is increasingly blighting the lives of millions of Britons and Americans.
However, some studies suggest that they also have a number of other benefits, including reducing the risk of heart attack and stroke and kidney disease and more recently some types of cancer.
Some experts have even said they should be proactively given to some patients, similar to statins, in an effort to reduce cardiovascular disease.
However, the jab has been associated with a number of side effects that, as with all drugs, vary in both frequency and severity.
Reported problems include nausea, constipation, diarrhea, fatigue, stomach pain, headache, and dizziness.
Bizarre symptoms such as hair loss have also been reported in some patients.
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Ministers in Britain plan to hand out the drug to millions of overweight Britons to reduce both the country’s exorbitant benefits bill due to sick Britons taking time off work and the rising cost of treating excess fat to the NHS.
The latest NHS figures show that 26 per cent of adults in England are obese and a further 38 per cent are overweight but not obese. In the US, an estimated 41.9 percent of the adult population is obese.
It is also estimated that the expanded passport circumferences in Britain cost the nation almost £100 billion a year.
This colossal figure includes both NHS treatment and secondary economic effects such as lost earnings from people taking time off.
Although hormone-mimicking injections are designed to help overweight patients become healthier, there have also been growing concerns about the number of normal and underweight patients using them for cosmetic reasons.
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Some even needed A&E care after taking a beating in their quest to become “beach body ready”.
Young women in particular are believed to be obtaining Wegos through online pharmacies, which offer them for £150 to £200 ($200 to $250) a month after providing false information about their appearance and health.
In some cases, people using the sting without a legitimate medical reason are thought to be doing so due to eating disorders.
A surge in worldwide demand for the injections, including by those who use them for cosmetic reasons, has meant that some diabetes patients are struggling to access supplies.
It has also led to pharmaceutical giant Novo Nordisk, which makes Ozempic and Wegos, enjoying a massive boom in profits.
Earlier this year, the Danish firm revealed it was making £32m a day as the country grapples with the financial costs of fighting fat tissue to get its hands on it.
The analysis suggests that combined sales of Ozempic and Wego’s brands generated £20.5bn this year.
Other drugs that work on a similar mechanism to Mounjaro and Ozempic, such as retatrutide, also made by Eli Lilly, are also in the pipeline.