TOPLINE
The diabetes drug Mounjaro will be tested alongside an experimental treatment to study how to maintain muscle mass while losing weight, according to an announcement Thursday—after earlier studies suggested some other increasingly popular weight-loss drugs may cause people to lose lean muscle mass.
KEY FACTS
BioAge Labs will co-administer its muscle loss drug azelaprag with Mounjaro to treat obesity as part of a clinical trial in partnership with Mounjaro maker Eli Lilly’s development arm, Chorus, the two companies said in a joint statement Thursday.
Early preclinical studies showed administering both azelaprag and Mounjaro—known generically as tirzepatide—in obese mice increased the total weight loss from Mounjaro, and led to “normalized body composition” and decreased glucose levels without an “appreciable decrease” in calorie intake, both companies said.
Kristen Fortney, chief executive of California-based BioAge, said administering azelaprag with Mounjaro “may help promote healthier weight loss.”
The trial is expected to begin in mid-2024, BioAge said.
KEY BACKGROUND
Azelaprag is a drug that mimics the activity of apelin, a substance that is released through the body after exercise, according to BioAge. Apelin also helps to regulate metabolism and promote muscle regeneration. The drug could “significantly” prevent muscle atrophy among older adults, according to one clinical trial by BioAge in December involving 227 people age 65 or older. Mounjaro—manufactured by Eli Lilly—is a glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonist, or a drug used to treat diabetes and weight loss, similar to the popular drugs Ozempic and Wegovy. Mounjaro has not been approved by the Food and Drug Administration for weight loss, though some doctors prescribe the drug for off-label use for weight loss in patients who don’t have type two diabetes, like Ozempic.
SURPRISING FACT
A clinical trial of semaglitude—the active ingredient in weight-loss drugs Ozempic and Wegovy—indicated it could result in nearly as much loss of lean muscle as pounds of fat. Participants lost about 15 pounds of lean muscle on average, compared with 23 pounds of fat during a 68-week trial. The average age of participants was 52.
BIG NUMBER
41.9%. That’s the percentage of adults age 60 or older in the U.S. who are obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.