Newest anti-obesity drug may also do wonders for blood pressure

The newest anti-obesity drug on the market, Eli Lilly’s tirzepatide, may also help control people’s blood pressure, according to a new study Monday. It shows. The study looked at clinical trial participants and found that people who took it had an average reduction in systolic blood pressure. compared to the placebo group over a six-month period. The study is the latest to indicate that a new group of anti-obesity drugs may provide health benefits beyond weight loss.

Tirzepatide, developed by Eli Lilly, mimics two hormones important in regulating hunger and metabolism: GLP-1 and GIP. Its mechanism is double action. This class of drugs is believed to increase weight loss potential, commonly known as incretins. In clinical trials of tirzepatide, people lost 20% or more of their starting weight. This is higher than the average of 15%. Weight loss seen with Novo Nordisk’s semaglutide (marketed as Ozempic and Vegovy), the first of these new incretin drugs to receive FDA approval, far exceeds the typical success seen with diet and exercise alone.

Tirzepatide was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 2021 for the control of type 2 diabetes under the brand name Mounjaro; in November 2023 it was approved for the treatment of obesity under the Zepbound brand. As with semaglutide, scientists were curious about how tirzepatide might affect people’s overall health.

This new study was published Monday in Hypertension Magazine. This is a pre-planned analysis of the SURMOUNT-1 clinical trial, one of the key large-scale studies used to obtain FDA approval for the treatment of obesity.

The authors studied a group of 600 participants whose blood pressure was monitored for a full day at the start of the study. and 36 weeks later. The volunteers had their blood pressure measured every 30 to 60 minutes, depending on the time of day, and were divided into four groups: three taking different weekly doses of tirzepatide and the fourth taking a placebo. About a third of participants reported being diagnosed with hypertension (a reading greater than 140/90 mmHg), but they were included in the substudy only if their blood pressure had been controlled with medication for at least three months before the study .

Overall, the authors found that people taking any dose of tirzepatide consistently experienced a decrease in systolic blood pressure (the top reading) compared with placebo. For example, people taking the lowest dose of tirzepatide had a mean reduction in systolic blood pressure of 7.4 mmHg. Art., and among those who took the highest dose, the average decrease was 8.0 mmHg. Art. Of the two measurements, systolic blood pressure is considered a better predictor of future cardiovascular disease than diastolic blood pressure, the authors note.

“Although tirzepatide has been studied as a weight loss agent, the reduction in blood pressure in our patients in this study was impressive,” said senior study author James A. de Lemos, professor of medicine at the Medical Center. University of Texas, in statement American Heart Association.

The results are consistent with similar studies of semaglutide, also known as Ozempic/Wegovy. Last August excellent research It found that those who took semaglutide and were at higher risk of cardiovascular problems experienced an average 20% reduction in the incidence of serious cardiac events such as heart failure. seizures and strokes compared with placebo. Another study conducted later in September. found that the condition of patients with heart failure and obesity improved significantly after taking semaglutide.

There are still some important questions about how these drugs improve people’s cardiovascular health, and they may not be suitable (or available) for everyone who is obese. But the bigger picture suggests these drugs could be used for more than just weight loss, especially for people at higher risk of heart problems.

“Although it is unknown whether the effect on blood pressure was due to the medication or participants’ weight loss, the lower blood pressure values ​​observed with tirzepatide rivaled those observed with many hypertension medications,” he said from Lemos.