Eli Lilly's Zepbound Plus Amylin Drug Achieves 23.3% Weight Loss in Diabetes Trial

Eli Lilly has reported that combining its blockbuster obesity drug Zepbound (tirzepatide) with the amylin analogue eloralintide achieved 23.3 percent weight loss at the highest dose after 48 weeks in patients with type 2 diabetes. The results, presented at the annual meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes, significantly outperformed either drug used alone.

Participants taking only Zepbound lost 14.8 percent of their body weight, while those on only the highest dose of eloralintide lost 11.1 percent. The combination's 23.3 percent result is particularly notable because patients with diabetes typically lose less weight on these medications than non-diabetic patients, making the magnitude of the effect clinically significant.

However, the trial also showed high discontinuation rates, which may raise questions about tolerability. The amylin pathway targets appetite regulation through a different mechanism than GLP-1 receptor agonists like Zepbound, and combining the two approaches appears to amplify weight loss but potentially at the cost of increased side effects.

The results intensify the competition in the obesity drug market, where Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk are racing to develop next-generation therapies that push weight loss beyond what current single-drug treatments can achieve. If the combination proves tolerable in larger trials, it could establish a new standard for treating obesity in patients with diabetes — a population that has historically been underserved by weight-loss medications.