A revolutionary weight loss jab could save patients from life-threatening liver failure, a study has found.
Tirzepatide, sold under the name Zepbound, is an injectable anti-obesity drug that suppresses appetite by artificially activating hormones that make you feel full, much like the popular Ozempic and Wegovy jabs.
However, new research suggests that patients taking tirzepatide, which was approved for use last week by the NHS, lose twice as much weight compared to those taking Ozempic or Wegovy.
But the study reveals that the weekly injection could also transform the treatment of liver disease.
More than half of patients with fatty liver disease, often caused by obesity, saw an improvement in their symptoms after receiving tirzepatide.
Tirzepatide, sold under the name Zepbound, is an injectable anti-obesity drug that suppresses appetite by artificially activating 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 (file image)
The condition occurs when excess fat cells inflame the liver and cause scarring, known as fibrosis. Around 10,000 people in the UK die each year from liver disease, once the organ can no longer properly filter toxins from the body. While 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, American pharmaceutical firm Eli Lilly, nearly 55 percent of participants who received an increased dose of 5 mg of tirzepatide saw their fibrosis decrease significantly.
In comparison, less than a third of trial patients who received a placebo saw an improvement in their scars.
Experts say that the weight loss caused by tirzepatide also burns fat in the liver.
Naveed Sattar, professor of cardiometabolic medicine at the University of Glasgow, said the “exciting” findings mark a major advance in the treatment of liver disease.
“In the future, more people with liver disease will be treated with approved anti-obesity drugs,” he says. “And by enabling large weight loss, tirzepatide will slow the development or improve the treatment of a number of other diseases common in people with liver disease, such as type 2 diabetes.”