BELLEVUE, Wash., July 08, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Today Truveta announced that its comparative effectiveness study exploring weight loss among patients taking semaglutide (Ozempic) and tirzepatide (Mounjaro) has been published in JAMA Internal Medicine.
Glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor agonist-based (GLP-1 RA) medications, including semaglutide and the dual GLP-1 RA/gastric inhibitory polypeptide (GIP) medication tirzepatide, are used to treat type 2 diabetes or obesity. In the study published in JAMA Internal Medicine, Truveta Research compared weight loss outcomes for patients taking semaglutide and tirzepatide approved by the FDA for treating type 2 diabetes (Ozempic and Mounjaro, respectively). The study can also be viewed directly within Truveta Studio.
In this study, Truveta Research studied patients with overweight or obesity initiating either semaglutide or tirzepatide between May 2022 and September 2023. The team used multiple rigorous methods (including propensity score matching) to achieve a well-balanced analytic cohort of more than 18,000 patients to appropriately evaluate the effectiveness of semaglutide compared with tirzepatide for weight loss. The analysis found that patients taking tirzepatide were significantly more likely to achieve weight loss:
- Those taking tirzepatide were 1.8 times more likely than those taking semaglutide to achieve 5% weight loss,
- 2.5 times more likely than those taking semaglutide to achieve 10% weight loss,
- And 3.2 times more likely than those taking semaglutide to achieve 15% weight loss.
Truveta Research also found that patients taking tirzepatide experienced significantly larger reductions in body weight at specified timepoints:
- At 3 months, the mean percentage change in body weight was -5.9% for those taking tirzepatide versus -3.6% for those taking semaglutide.
- At six months, the mean percentage change in body weight was -10.1% for those taking tirzepatide versus -5.8% for those taking semaglutide.
- At one year, the mean percentage change in body weight was -15.3% for those taking tirzepatide versus -8.3% for those taking semaglutide.
The study also found a high rate of discontinuation – 55.9% of patients on tirzepatide, and 52.5% of patients on semaglutide within 12 months.
Additionally, the study found that weight loss was greater for patients without type 2 diabetes than for those with evidence of type 2 diabetes, though differences in effectiveness between tirzepatide and semaglutide were similar. Rates of moderate to severe gastrointestinal adverse events were similar between those taking tirzepatide and semaglutide.
“GLP-1 medications have dramatically increased in use by patients with and without type 2 diabetes in the past year, yet little real-world data exist to compare the effectiveness of two of the most common medications, semaglutide and tirzepatide,” said Tricia Rodriguez, PhD, MPH principal applied scientist, Truveta Research, and lead author on the paper. “That’s what makes today’s study findings so exciting and important. Because Truveta Data provides timely, complete EHR data – including prescriptions and medication dispense data – that captures a large and diverse patient population, we’ve been able to compare the head-to-head effectiveness of these two important medications for weight loss in advance of smaller randomized clinical trials. This study can help to inform patient care and outcomes today, not months from now.”
“As a practicing cardiologist and researcher, having the most timely data to inform patient care is paramount,” said Ty Gluckman, MD, MHA, FACC, FAHA, FASPC, cardiologist, Providence Health, medical director at the Center for Cardiovascular Analytics, Research, and Data Science (CARDS), Providence Heart Institute, and an author on the paper. “Assessing the real-world effect of semaglutide and tirzepatide on weight loss provides a glimpse into what we may see with the more recently approved obesity drug tirzepatide and how it might compare with semaglutide. Because tirzepatide was only approved by the FDA in mid-2022 for type 2 diabetes, the ability to rigorously analyze its use (on- and off-label) for a broad population of patients with overweight or obesity, not just a subset captured in insurance databases, has the power to greatly improve our understanding of how these agents are being used in every day practice and the effect that they’re having.”
This research was conducted using Truveta, which offers the most complete, timely, and clean regulatory-grade electronic health record (EHR) data from more than 100 million patients across more than 30 US health systems. Truveta Data is representative of inpatient and outpatient care from over 800 hospitals and 20,000 clinics. Truveta Data is updated daily for the most current view of patient care. By providing a complete view of the patient journey, including clinical notes and medical images, Truveta enables researchers to accelerate therapy adoption, improve clinical trials, and enhance patient care. These data were then analyzed using Truveta Studio, which enables scientifically rigorous, fast, and compliant analytics.
About Truveta
Truveta is a growing collective of health systems in the US with a mission of Saving Lives with Data. Truveta delivers the most complete, clean, and timely regulatory-grade EHR data for scientifically rigorous research. Truveta is trusted by more than 60 leading life science, government, health system, and academic and research organizations to accelerate adoption of new therapies, improve clinical trials, and enhance patient care.
Truveta membership includes Providence, Advocate Health, Trinity Health, Tenet Healthcare, Northwell Health, AdventHealth, Baptist Health of Northeast Florida, Baylor Scott & White Health, Bon Secours Mercy Health, CommonSpirit Health, Hawaii Pacific Health, HealthPartners, Henry Ford Health System, HonorHealth, Inova, Lehigh Valley Health Network, MedStar Health, Memorial Hermann Health System, MetroHealth, Novant Health, Ochsner Health, Premier Health, Saint Luke’s Health System, Sanford Health, Sentara Healthcare, Texas Health Resources, TriHealth, UnityPoint Health, Virtua Health, and WellSpan Health.
- Truveta Research study published in JAMA Internal Medicine compares tirzepatide (Mounjaro) and semaglutide (Ozempic) for weight loss