Eli Lilly's weight-loss drug succeeds in trials with sleep apnea
patients
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[April 17, 2024]
(Reuters) -Eli Lilly's weight-loss drug helped cut the frequency
of irregular breathing in patients with obstructive sleep apnea by as
much as 63% on average across two late-stage trials, the company said on
Wednesday.
Weight-loss drugs such as Lilly's Zepbound and Novo Nordisk's Wegovy,
called GLP-1 agonists, have already brought in billions of dollars in
sales as treatments for obesity and diabetes. The treatments work by
reducing food cravings and emptying the stomach more slowly.
Lilly's trial results add to a growing body of clinical evidence that
suggests GLP-1 drugs have medical benefits beyond diabetes and weight
loss.
Novo's Wegovy was approved by the FDA in March as a treatment for
lowering the risk of stroke and heart attack in overweight or obese
adults who do not have diabetes.
Millions of people already take Lilly's GLP-1 drugs, sold as Zepbound
for obesity and Mounjaro for type 2 diabetes, but Wednesday's data could
pave the way to expand their use for a new set of patients.
In one of the Lilly studies, patients received only tirzepatide, the
active ingredient in Zepbound and Mounjaro, and showed a 55% improvement
in symptoms of the disease, compared with a 5% improvement in patients
who received a placebo.
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![](../images/041724PIX/health92.jpg)
Eli Lilly logo is shown on one of the company's offices in San
Diego, California, U.S., September 17, 2020. REUTERS/Mike Blake
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2024/Apr/17/images/ads/current/debbiesfloral_lda_040124.png) The second study tested the drug in
combination with a device known as continuous positive airway
pressure (CPAP) therapy and patients showed a 62.8% drop in events
of irregular breathing on average.
Lilly said it plans to submit data to the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration and other global regulatory agencies beginning
mid-year.
Obstructive sleep apnea affects roughly 1 billion people globally,
according to a 2019 study published in The Lancet.
Symptoms of the disease were measured using Apnea-Hypopnea Index (AHI)
across the studies, which quantifies the presence and severity of
partial or complete obstructions of airways experienced by a patient
during their sleep.
(Reporting by Bhanvi Satija in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj
Kalluvila and Shinjini Ganguli)
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