Team Metabolic Health

A daily weight loss pill from Novo Nordisk was shown to lower body weight by up to 13% after three months in a Phase 1 clinical trial, according to findings presented Tuesday at the European Association for the Study of Diabetes annual meeting in Spain.

The rate of weight loss with the experimental pill, called amycretin, appears to be more rapid than what’s seen for other drugs.

“It’s roughly double the weight loss rate seen with current GLP-1 agonists and approaching procedural or surgical-level outcomes,” said Dr. Christopher McGowan, a gastroenterologist who runs a weight loss clinic in North Carolina. “It shows potential promise.”

Dr. Susan Spratt, an endocrinologist and the senior medical director for the Population Health Management Office at Duke Health, said the results looked impressive.

“How could they achieve weight loss that quickly?” Spratt asked. “It’s almost like a miracle pill.”

The findings are early — more research is needed, particularly over a longer period of time — and the drug can’t be directly compared to existing weight loss drugs because they weren’t tested in a head-to-head trial. The results also haven’t been published in a peer-reviewed journal.

Credit: NBC News