This New Drug Combo Beats GLP-1s Alone, Without One of the Biggest Side Effects

The drug is still in the trial phase.

BY AVA LEVINSON, NEWS WRITER

(Photo via Getty Images)

Researchers at Eli Lilly and others published a phase II trial this week that combined semaglutide, the active ingredient in weight loss drugs Ozempic and Wegovy, with bimagrumab, an experimental antibody designed to prevent muscle loss. 

The results showed that patients using both drugs together lost significantly more weight and fat while retaining more lean body mass. 

“These findings support further development of bimagrumab, alone or in combination with incretin therapy to achieve optimal weight loss,” the researchers wrote in the paper, which was published March 2 in Nature Medicine. 

People with obesity losing weight typically lose both fat and lean body mass, which means they’re shedding some muscle, too. People tend to lose more fat than lean body mass, according to Gizmodo, but losing muscle can be a concern for more vulnerable populations, like older adults. 

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New Combo Therapy Reduces Loss 

The new drug works by restraining type-2B, a protein that limits muscle growth. The trial involved around 500 people with obesity who were broken up into four categories: the placebo group, a group taking bimagrumab, another group taking semaglutide, and a final cohort taking both together. 

Researchers tracking the participants found that across 48 weeks, those taking the combination of semaglutide and bimagrumab lost up to 20 percent of their body weight. Those on semaglutide alone lost up to 15 percent of their body weight. 

After 72 weeks, the combo group had lost nearly 46 percent fat and almost 3 percent lean body mass, while the semaglutide group lost nearly 28 percent fat and over 7 percent lean body mass. 

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