Daily Dose: Tirzepatide Discontinuation Results in Weight Regain

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Patient Care brings primary care clinicians a lot of medical news every day—it’s easy to miss an important study. The Daily Dose provides a concise summary of one of the website's leading stories you may not have seen.

Last week, we reported on findings from a study published in JAMA that examined the effect of tirzepatide, with diet and physical activity, on the maintenance of weight reduction.

The study

Researchers conducted the phase 3, randomized withdrawal SURMOUNT-4 clinical trial to assess the effect of 36-week open-label, once-weekly treatment with tirzepatide followed by a 52-week, double-blind, placebo-controlled assessment on adults with body mass index (BMI) ≥30 kg/m² or ≥27 kg/m² plus a weight complication, excluding diabetes.

The primary end point was mean percent change in weight from the week 36 randomization to week 88, with secondary end points including proportion of patients who maintained ≥80% of the lead-in period weight loss across either treatment arm.

Among the 670 participants who completed the 36-week lead-in period, the mean age was 48 years old; 71% were women, 80.1% were White, and mean weight was 107.3 kg.

Findings

From the lead-in randomization (week 36) to week 88, researchers observed a mean -5.5% reduction in weight loss among patients in the tirzepatide group compared to a mean 14.0% weight gain among those in the placebo group (95% CI -21.2% to -17.7%; P<.001).

Also, investigators noted at week 88 that 300 participants (89.5%) in the tirzepatide-treated group had maintained ≥80% of their lead-in weight loss, compared to 16.6% of patients in the placebo group (P<.001).

Authors' comment

"In participants with obesity or overweight, withdrawing tirzepatide led to substantial regain of lost weight, whereas continued treatment maintained and augmented initial weight reduction."

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