Monthly weight loss drug helps people lose 20% of body weight, trial finds

A monthly weight loss drug from Amgen helped people lose about 20% of their body weight, according to the results of a phase 2 clinical trial.

A monthly weight loss drug from Amgen helped people lose about 20% of their body weight, according to the results of a phase 2 clinical trial.

If approved, the drug, called MariTide, could make Amgen the first new entrant into a market that’s been dominated by Novo Nordisk, which makes Ozempic and Wegovy, and Eli Lilly, which makes Mounjaro and Zepbound.

These powerful weight loss and Type 2 diabetes medications are all GLP-1 drugs. MariTide is, too, but differs in that it also contains a monoclonal antibody, which helps the drug stay in the body longer so people can take it monthly, rather than weekly.

“It’s always just easier for patients to only have to take something once per month,” said Dr. Michelle Ponder, an assistant professor of medicine at Duke University School of Medicine in North Carolina who wasn’t involved in Amgen’s trial. “A lot of patients we see in endocrinology are diabetes patients, and so they’d be taking multiple shots of insulin per day. And so, every last shot matters, even if it’s three less shots per month.”

Amgen's results were published Monday in the New England Journal of Medicine and presented at the American Diabetes Association’s annual meeting in Chicago.