Eli Lilly's tirzepatide cuts heart failure risks, company says
Eli Lilly’s drug tirzepatide, sold under the names Mounjaro for diabetes and Zepbound for weight loss, improved symptoms in heart failure patients with obesity, the company said Thursday.
Eli Lilly’s drug tirzepatide, sold under the names Mounjaro for diabetes and Zepbound for weight loss, improved symptoms in heart failure patients with obesity, the company said Thursday.
The findings add to a growing body of evidence that the GLP-1 drugs, which also include Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic and Wegovy, have benefits beyond diabetes and weight loss.
In Lilly’s latest trial, patients who got tirzepatide were 38% less likely to be hospitalized, need to increase their heart failure medication or die because of heart complications, compared to people who got a placebo. Patients who got the drug also reported less shortness of breath, fatigue and swelling of the lower legs. The trial lasted 52 weeks.
Lilly released its findings in a news release; the results have not been published in a medical journal or reviewed by outside scientists.
“I think it’s quite impressive,” said Dr. Patricia Pellikka, the Betty Knight Scripps professor of cardiovascular disease clinical research at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. “For a long time, we’ve had rather limited therapies for these patients. It should be a very welcome tool for the toolbox for patients.” Pellikka was not involved with Lilly’s research.
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