June 2 (Reuters) - Regeneron Pharmaceuticals ( REGN )

said on Monday its experimental weight-loss drug combination

helped preserve muscle mass in a mid-stage study.

The drug candidate, trevogrumab, in combination with Novo

Nordisk's popular obesity drug Wegovy, chemically

known as semaglutide, helped patients preserve muscle and

increase fat loss in patients, Regeneron said.

The combination helped preserve up to 80% of the lean mass

compared to semaglutide alone, according to interim data from

the study.

However, a triple combination of Novo's semaglutide,

Regeneron's trevogrumab and experimental antibody garetosmab led

to a substantially higher rate of discontinuation due to

tolerability issues and other side effects, Regeneron said.

The full data set will be available later this year, the

drugmaker said.

(Reporting by Mariam Sunny in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh

Kuber and Shinjini Ganguli)