Weekly tirzepatide works for weight loss in Chinese adults with obesity

Once-weekly treatment with tirzepatide at either 10 or 15 mg appears to yield substantial reductions in weight, according to data from the phase III SURMOUNT-CN trial.

SURMOUNT-CN included 210 Chinese adults (mean age 36.1 years, 49.0 percent female, mean body weight 91.8 kg) with a BMI of ≥28 kg/m² (mean 32.3 kg/m²) and at least one weight-related comorbidity, excluding diabetes. These participants were randomly assigned to receive tirzepatide 10 mg (n=70) or 15 mg (n=71) or placebo (n=69), administered subcutaneously once a week for 52 weeks. Treatment was given in combination with a lifestyle intervention.

Coprimary endpoints were the percent change in body weight from baseline and weight reduction of at least 5 percent at week 52. Efficacy and safety analyses were performed in the intention-to-treat population.

Of the participants, 201 (95.7 percent) completed the trial. Results for the coprimary endpoints were significantly better with tirzepatide than with placebo.

The mean change in body weight at week 52 was −13.6 percent with tirzepatide 10 mg, −17.5 percent with tirzepatide 15 mg, and −2.3 percent with placebo (difference between 10 mg and placebo, −11.3 percent, 95 percent confidence interval [CI], −14.3 to −8.3; difference between 15 mg and placebo, −15.1 percent, 95 percent CI, −18.2 to −12.1; p<0.001 for both comparisons).

Furthermore, the percentage of participants achieving body weight reductions of at least 5 percent was 87.7 percent with tirzepatide 10 mg and 85.8 percent with tirzepatide 15 mg as compared with only 29.3 percent with placebo (p<0.001 for both comparisons).

In terms of safety, the most frequent treatment-emergent adverse events with tirzepatide were gastrointestinal in nature. Most of these events were mild to moderate in severity, and few led to treatment discontinuation (<5 percent).