A revolutionary weight-loss shot could save patients from life-threatening liver failure, a study has discovered.
Tirzepatide, sold as Zepbound, is an injectable anti-obesity drug that suppresses appetite by artificially activating the hormones that make you feel full – much like the popular jabs Ozempic and Wegovy.
Yet new research suggests that patients taking tirzepatide – which was approved for use on the NHS last week – lose twice as much weight compared to those taking Ozempic or Wegovy.
But the weekly jab could also transform the treatment of liver disease, the study reveals.
More than half of patients with fatty liver disease, often caused by obesity, saw an improvement in their symptoms after receiving tirzepatide.
Tirzepatide, sold as Zepbound, is an injectable anti-obesity drug that suppresses appetite by artificially activating the hormones that make you feel full
More than half of patients with fatty liver disease, often caused by obesity, saw an improvement in their symptoms after receiving tirzepatide (Stock Image)
The condition occurs when excess fat cells inflame and scar the liver – known as fibrosis. Around 10,000 people in Britain die every year due to liver disease, once the organ can no longer properly filter toxins from the body. Although most cases are caused by alcohol abuse, one in four is due to fatty liver disease.
In the new study conducted by tirzepatide’s developer, US pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly, almost 55 percent of participants who received an increased dose of 5 mg of tirzepatide saw their fibrosis significantly decrease.
By comparison, less than a third of patients in the study who received a placebo saw an improvement in their scars.
Experts claim that the weight loss caused by tirzepatide also burns the fat in the liver.
Naveed Sattar, professor of cardiometabolic medicine at the University of Glasgow, said the ‘exciting’ findings marked a breakthrough in the treatment of liver diseases.
“In the future, more people with liver disease will be treated with approved anti-obesity medications,” he says. ‘And by enabling major weight loss, tirzepatide will slow the development or improve the treatment of a range of other diseases common in people with liver disease, such as type 2 diabetes.’