Mujaro aims to eat up part of its market

The new drug will go on sale on July 1, but will only be available with a prescription.

Ozempic will soon have competition in Spanish pharmacies. Not Wegovy, another semaglutide-based drug, but a new compound: Mounjaro.

Arrival in Spain. The American pharmaceutical company Lilly announced the availability of Munharo in pharmacies in Spain. This will happen from July 1 and in different formats depending on the dosage: 2.5, 5, 7.5 and 10 mg. Treatment will be prescribed only with a doctor’s prescription.

What is Mujaro? Mujaro is the trade name of a drug developed by Lilly based on tirzepatide. This compound was originally developed to treat type 2 diabetes, although like Ozempic and Wegovy, it soon gained popularity as a way to lose weight. The pharmaceutical company also sells the compound under another brand, Zepbound, but not yet in Spain.

Like semaglutide (the active component of Ozempic and Vegovoy), tirzepatide is a GLP-1 receptor agonist (glucagon-like peptide type 1). The difference is that this compound also interacts with GIP (gastric inhibitory polypeptide or glucose-dependent insulinotropic peptide) receptors.

Success in clinical trials. This drug has undergone two series of clinical trials: SURPASS (targeting people with type 2 diabetes) and SURMOUNT (targeting obese and overweight people without diabetes). In both cases, the drug was found to be safe and effective in both applications.

The third arm of the clinical trial, SYNERGY-NASH, is still in development and is focused on steatohepatitis associated with metabolic dysfunction. A few weeks ago, Lilly announced that tirzepatide had successfully completed the second phase of this series of trials.

These clinical trials also helped to better understand the side effects of this drug. These are, as you would expect, similar to semaglutide reactions and include potential allergic reactions, gastrointestinal problems such as nausea, diarrhea or constipation. In addition to the potential for more severe allergic reactions, possible serious side effects include inflammation of the pancreas.

And on the market. Clinical trials show that Mujaro is more effective than Ozempic. Whether for this reason or for economic reasons (Munjaro appeared in American pharmacies on the wave of popularity achieved by semaglutide), the first months of the product’s introduction to the market established this drug as the main alternative to Ozempic.

Supply issue. The arrival of this drug is excellent news for Spanish pharmacies, given the Ozempic supply problems they have faced. Although tirzepatide is approved for two purposes (glycemic control and weight loss), its former use is expected to predominate, at least until these issues are resolved.

A few weeks ago, the Spanish Agency for Medicines and Health Products (AEMPS) approved the arrival of Wegovy to alleviate these supply problems, but at the same time emphasized that both semaglutide-based drugs should only be available with a doctor’s prescription and that this should be given priority is given to its use for glycemic control.

We will have to wait to see whether this new drug will alleviate these problems, and if so, whether it will change the current AEMPS policy.

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Image | Enric / Lilly