Experimental Drug Pair Triggers Weight Loss of as Much as 23% of Body Weight

An experimental therapy has led to substantial weight reduction while also improving blood sugar control in people with obesity and type 2 diabetes.

The findings come from a phase 2b trial of a two-drug combination known as EloraTZP.

The treatment brings together eloralintide and tirzepatide, two medicines being developed by Eli Lilly. Both are designed to influence hormone pathways tied to appetite, feelings of fullness and blood glucose regulation.

The study enrolled 367 adults with type 2 diabetes who also had obesity or overweight. For many in this group, losing a large amount of weight while keeping glucose under control can be especially challenging.

Participants were given different dose combinations as separate injections. After 48 weeks, every tested regimen produced significant weight loss and reductions in HbA1c, the blood marker used to estimate average glucose levels over the past two to three months.

On average, participants started the study at 105.4 kilograms. The lowest-dose combination led to an average loss of 13.2% of body weight, or about 13.9 kilograms.

At the highest dose, average weight loss climbed to 23.3%, equal to roughly 24.6 kilograms. In that group, HbA1c dropped by 2.9 percentage points from levels that were already above the usual treatment target for many people with diabetes.

The most frequent side effects were digestive and were generally mild to moderate. They appeared mainly during dose escalation and were reported more often with the combination treatment than with either drug alone.

Overall, the results indicate that hitting multiple appetite and blood-sugar pathways at once may deliver stronger effects than targeting just one. That approach could be especially valuable because obesity and type 2 diabetes often occur together and can worsen one another.

Even so, EloraTZP remains experimental. These phase 2b results do not prove how well the treatment will perform over the long term or how safe it will be after years of use, and larger studies are needed before regulators could consider it for routine care.

The amount of weight loss seen at the highest dose is striking, particularly among people with type 2 diabetes, who often lose less weight with obesity medicines than people without diabetes. Future research will need to weigh that benefit against the added glucose improvements and the higher rate of digestive side effects.

The data are being presented at an annual meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes in Milan, Italy.