Lilly Launches New Phase 3 Trial of Orforglipron for Weight Maintenance Following Tirzepatide or Semaglutide Treatment

▎Armstrong

On September 5, 2024, Eli Lilly registered another Phase III clinical trial for weight loss of the small molecule GLP-1 receptor agonist Orforglipron on the Clinicaltrials.gov website.

The purpose of this Phase III clinical trial is to evaluate the efficacy and safety of Orforglipron as a weight loss maintenance treatment, with plans to enroll 480 obese patients, and is expected to be completed by January 2026.

The study enrolled obese patients who completed the SURMOUNT-5 trial.

SURMOUNT-5 is a Phase III clinical trial with a head-to-head comparison of tirzepatide and semaglutide for the treatment of obesity, which is scheduled to conclude in November 2024. Tirzepatide and semaglutide are currently the most mainstream weight-loss drugs on the market, indicating that Orforglipron's newly initiated Phase III clinical trial is targeting maintenance therapy scenarios following tirzepatide and semaglutide.

Based on the experience with semaglutide, only about one-third of patients can maintain treatment for a year, and rebound after discontinuation remains one of the biggest issues for GLP-1-based weight-loss drugs. This indicates that maintenance therapy following treatments like tirzepatide and semaglutide represents a substantial market.

Summary

Orforglipron has initiated 10 Phase III clinical trials, covering various application scenarios for Type 2 diabetes and weight loss, with over 11,000 patients enrolled.