Mountzaro, Eli Lilly's obesity treatment known as the "miracle obesity drug" for its average 21% weight loss effect at the highest dose in clinical trials, is expected to soon land in Korea.
Korea Lilly announced on the 1st that Mountzaro (generic name: Tirzepatide), a dual agonist of glucagon-like peptide (GLP)-1 and glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide (GIP), received approval from the Korean Ministry of Food and Drug Safety on the 30th of last month as an adjunct for chronic weight management.
Mountzaro is currently the only approved dual agonist of GLP-1 and GIP. These two are a type of incretin hormone that influences insulin secretion promotion, insulin sensitivity improvement, glucagon secretion reduction, appetite regulation, and maintenance of satiety. Mountzaro selectively binds to and activates both receptors targeted by endogenous GIP and GLP-1, thereby lowering preprandial and postprandial blood glucose levels and reducing body weight and body fat mass.
The target patients are obese individuals with an initial body mass index (BMI) of 30 kg/m² or higher, or overweight patients with an initial BMI of 27 to 30 kg/m² who have at least one weight-related comorbidity such as hypertension, dyslipidemia, or type 2 diabetes. It was approved as a once-weekly subcutaneous injection adjunct to low-calorie diet and exercise therapy for chronic weight management in these adult patients. Previously, in June last year, it was also approved as an adjunct to improve glycemic control in patients with type 2 diabetes.
Mountzaro demonstrated efficacy in weight management in a prior phase 3 clinical trial. In the SURMOUNT-1 trial conducted over 72 weeks involving 2,539 overweight adult patients with obesity or weight-related comorbidities other than type 2 diabetes, Mountzaro showed statistically significant weight loss effects compared to placebo in all dosage groups. Notably, in the highest dose group of 15 mg, 90.9% of the 630 patients lost at least 5% of their body weight, with an average weight loss of 20.9% from baseline.
Mountzaro showed consistent weight loss effects regardless of age, sex, race, ethnicity, baseline BMI, or glycemic status. In terms of safety, adverse reactions such as gastrointestinal disorders including nausea, diarrhea, constipation, vomiting, and hypoglycemia in patients with type 2 diabetes were observed.
Kim Gye-won, Vice President of the Diabetes Business Unit at Korea Lilly, said, “Despite many studies and sufficient scientific evidence conducted so far, domestic obesity patients still experience stigma and prejudice regarding their weight, which can hinder their efforts to improve health or negatively affect the quality of treatment. Lilly will continue to do its best to create a treatment environment where obesity patients can receive timely diagnosis and evidence-based obesity management by starting with expanding the domestic indications of Mountzaro and improving the wrong social perceptions about obesity.”
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