WEDNESDAY, Oct. 14, 2026 (HealthDay News) -- The amylin-based analog petrelintide achieves meaningful weight reduction for adults with obesity, according to a study published online Sept. 29 in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology to coincide with the annual meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes, held from Sept. 28 to Oct. 2 in Milan.
W. Timothy Garvey, M.D., from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and colleagues conducted a randomized, placebo-controlled trial involving 32 sites in Poland, Romania, and the United States to examine the efficacy and safety of once-weekly petrelintide versus placebo in people with obesity. Overall, 485 adults without diabetes and with a body mass index (BMI) ≥30 kg/m2 or a BMI ≥27 kg/m2 with hypertension, dyslipidemia, or both received at least one dose of petrelintide or placebo: 79 received petrelintide 1.0 mg, 81 petrelintide 2.5 mg, 83 petrelintide 5.0 mg, 79 petrelintide 7.0 mg, 82 petrelintide 9.0 mg, and 81 received placebo.
The researchers found that the mean percentage change in body weight from baseline after 28 weeks (efficacy estimand) was −7.9, −7.9, −9.8, −9.3, and −9.4 percent with petrelintide 1.0, 2.5, 5.0, 7.0, and 9.0 mg, respectively, versus −1.7 percent with placebo. To week 42, there was a continuing decline in body weight, with reductions of up to −10.7 percent with petrelintide. Nausea was the most common adverse event with petrelintide (20 percent versus 6 percent with placebo). There were no reports of deaths.
"These findings support both the effectiveness of this novel amylin agonist and add to the evidence that amylin-based therapies for obesity might substantially improve tolerability and overall patient experience and potentially drive greater treatment adherence," the authors said in a statement.
Several authors disclosed ties to biopharmaceutical companies, including Zealand Pharma, which is developing petrelintide and funded the study.
