Scientists Discover Drug Twice as Effective as Ozempic

CT-388 is a new treatment might just leave Ozempic in the dust...

Move over, Ozempic. There's a new weight loss & diabetes wonder drug on the horizon, and it’s promising to double fat loss.

Early trial data reveals that obese patients on this once-weekly shot shed a whopping 19% of their body weight in just five and a half months. For comparison, Ozempic and Wegovy typically help users lose around 10% in six months.

And there's more for the new drug dubbed CT-388; every patient with pre-diabetes on this medication were all in remission by the trial's end. Swiss pharma giant Roche, who dropped the news on Thursday, reported side effects are mild and similar to other injections.

In a phase 1 trial involving 31 obese adults, CT-388 showed staggering results: 45% of participants lost over 20% of their body weight by week 24, and every single one lost at least 5%.

Roche's CT-388 works like Eli Lilly’s Mounjaro and Zepbound by targeting two hunger hormones—GLP-1 and GIP—for appetite-suppressing. In comparison Ozempic only targets one.

Dr. Levi Garraway, Roche’s chief medical officer, spoke about the results, saying CT-388 shows “significant and clinically meaningful weight loss.” The company sees a bright future for this drug in treating both obesity and type 2 diabetes, calling it a potential best-in-class therapy.

CT-388 still needs to jump through majow hoops before it hits the market, and no price has been set yet. Meanwhile Ozempic costs upwards of $900 a month.

The news drops as pharma companies race to cash in on the booming weight loss market, predicted to skyrocket to $44 billion by 2030. Last year alone, over nine million prescriptions were written for drugs like Ozempic, Wegovy, and Mounjaro. With shortages of these medications making headlines, Roche’s latest announcement sent their stock prices up by 4%.

Disclaimer: Taking Ozempic and similar medications when you don’t need them is seriously dangerous.