New Chinese weight-loss jab could be more effective than Mounjaro – as users drop nearly a fifth of their body weight in under a year
A new experimental fat jab could rival blockbuster weight-loss drugs such as Wegovy and Mounjaro, a study has found.
In a trial, the once-weekly injection ribupatide helped patients shed an average of 17.7 per cent of their body weight – almost a fifth – in just 11 months.
Half of those on the highest dose of the drug, developed by a Chinese pharmaceutical company, lost more than a fifth of their starting weight.
And participants on the two highest doses, meanwhile, were still losing weight when the study ended.
By comparison, Wegovy, which contains the active ingredient semaglutide, has been shown to help patients lose around 18.7 per cent of their weight after 72 weeks – roughly 16-and-a-half months.
Mounjaro, another blockbuster jab made with tirzepatide, produces weight loss of around 22.5 per cent over the same 72-week period.
While the drugs have not been directly compared, the findings suggest ribupatide could become a powerful weight loss injection to rival those already on the market.
The findings come just months after patients were recruited for phase three trials of the drug in Britain.
A new experimental fat jab could rival blockbuster weight-loss drugs such as Wegovy and Mounjaro, a study has found
Ribupatide works like Mounjaro, mimicking two hormones that help to control appetite and blood sugar.
This helps people feel fuller for longer, reducing hunger and helping them eat less.
In the latest study, published in the journal JAMA, researchers from Fudan University in Shanghai recruited 567 overweight or obese adults, with an average age of 34, to test the drug.
Of those, 424 participants were randomly assigned to receive weekly injections of ribupatide at doses of 2mg, 4mg or 6mg, while the remaining 143 received a dummy placebo treatment.
After 48 weeks, patients given the lowest dose lost an average of 10.7 per cent of their body weight.
Those on the middle dose shed 16.4 per cent, while those taking the highest dose lost 17.7 per cent.
By contrast, those given the dummy injection lost just 1.4 per cent.
Some patients even saw far greater weight loss.
Around 13.6 per cent of the 142 patients taking the 2mg dose lost at least a fifth of their body weight, rising to 37.1 per cent of the 141 taking 4mg and 44.4 per cent of the 141 taking 6mg.
Intriguingly, the researchers suggested the drug’s full potential may not yet have been reached.
‘Reductions in body weight at week 48 were 16.4 per cent and 17.7 per cent with ribupatide 4mg and 6mg, respectively, and weight loss had not clearly plateaued in either group,’ they wrote.
For people taking the drugs, weight loss typically slows over time because the body burns fewer calories as it gets smaller.
Like other weight-loss jabs, which are taken by around 2.5 million Britons, the most common side effects were stomach and digestive problems.
These symptoms, which included nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea, affected around half of people on the lowest dose and around two-thirds on the highest dose.
Most cases were mild or moderate, however.
The jab also appeared to offer benefits beyond weight loss, with researchers finding improvements in measurements like blood pressure, blood sugar control and cholesterol.
Around 14 million adults in the UK have high blood pressure, which can increase the risk of deadly conditions such as heart failure.
Meanwhile, having good blood sugar control can help prevent type 2 diabetes and reducing cholesterol can lower the risk of stroke.
Systolic blood pressure – the top number in a reading – fell by around seven to nine points more than among patients given the dummy injection.
Meanwhile, triglycerides, a type of fat found in the blood that can cause serious health problems when levels become too high, fell by around 29 to 37 per cent more than the placebo.
The drug also appeared to help the body respond better to insulin, the hormone that helps control blood sugar levels.
Those on the 2mg dose had a 30 per cent reduced resistance to insulin, rising to 44 per cent at 4mg and 46 per cent at 6mg.
Total cholesterol levels also reduced by 6 per cent at 2mg, 9 per cent at 4mg and 8 per cent at 6mg.
Furthermore, waist size, which can indicate levels of visceral fat – the harmful fat stored deep inside the abdomen around vital organs – fell.
Measurements shrank by an average of around 9cm to 14cm among those taking ribupatide, compared with just 2.5cm in the dummy treatment group.
Despite the encouraging findings, the researchers cautioned that the study had several limitations.
‘First, the 48-week treatment period may not have captured the full weight loss effect of ribupatide 4mg and 6mg,’ they wrote.
‘Second, participants were relatively young, and the efficacy and safety findings may not be generalisable to older adults with overweight or obesity.’
The results come three months after clinical trials began recruiting patients in cities including Manchester, London and Nottingham to test the drug.
Researchers said they would compare weekly ribupatide injections of up to 10mg with a placebo over an 18-month period in people with and without diabetes.
Ribupatide is also being compared directly with semaglutide in a separate trial involving around 1,200 people across the UK and several other countries.
