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Drug shows weight reduction from 9.5% to up to 20.1%

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Lilly plans to start late-stage trials by year end

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Eloralintide mimics the pancreatic hormone amylin

Nov 6 (Reuters) - Eli Lilly ( LLY ) said on Thursday its

experimental obesity drug helped patients lose as much as 20.1%

of their weight in a mid-stage trial.

The first wave of obesity drugs, which dominate the market,

has mainly focused on the gut hormone GLP-1, but drugmakers are

now looking for medicines that target other hormones or help

preserve muscle mass during fat-loss with their next generation

of drugs.

The experimental once-weekly drug, eloralintide, belongs to

the class of drugs that mimic the pancreatic hormone amylin

which slows digestion and suppresses hunger.

In an early-stage trial the drug helped some patients lose

more than 11% of their body weight at 12 weeks.

In the mid-stage trial, patients on 1 mg dose of Lilly's

drug lost 9.5% or 10.2 kilograms and 20.1% or 21.3 kgs at the

highest 9 mg dose. This compares to 0.2 kg weight loss seen in

patients on placebo at 48 weeks.

The study enrolled 263 adults who were overweight with at

least one obesity-related comorbidity and without type 2

diabetes.

Lilly's drug also showed improvement across factors like

waist circumference, blood pressure, lipid profiles, glycemic

control, and markers of inflammation.

The most common side effects were mild to moderate

gastrointestinal symptoms and fatigue, which were seen more

frequently at higher doses. The incidence of these side effects

were lower with slower dose escalation and were similar to

placebo for the 1 mg and 3 mg doses.

The data shows eloralintide offers the potential for strong

efficacy with improved tolerability and could serve as an

alternative to incretin therapies, said Kenneth

Custer, president of Lilly Cardiometabolic Health.

Based on these trial results, Lilly will begin enrolling

patients for late-stage trial next month. The drug is also being

studied as a standalone treatment and in combination with

Lilly's blockbuster GLP-1 drug, tirzepatide, sold as Zepbound,

in mid-stage trials.