STAT+: Pharmalittle: We’re reading about a Lilly obesity drug trial, statistics for an Alzheimer’s drug, and more
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- Eli Lilly's Phase 3 obesity drug trial showed participants on the highest dose who remained on treatment lost an average of 28.3 % of body weight after 80 weeks.
- Eli Lilly reported an 11 % discontinuation rate due to adverse events in the same obesity trial; when including all participants, overall weight‑loss efficacy was 25 %.
- Eli Lilly’s discontinuation rate (11 %) is higher than the 7 % observed in pivotal trials of Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy and Lilly’s Zepbound.
- Eli Lilly’s secondary analysis of Kisunla, an amyloid‑targeting Alzheimer’s drug, used quantile aggregation and found that lower post‑treatment amyloid levels correlated with slower clinical progression.
- Eli Lilly’s quantile‑aggregation method was noted to amplify weak amyloid‑cognition relationships, leading to overstated cognitive‑benefit claims.
Why it matters: Obese patients could gain a powerful new treatment, but the 11 % adverse‑event dropout and higher discontinuation versus Wegovy may curb uptake, while insurers and regulators may scrutinize Alzheimer’s drug claims that rely on quantile‑aggregation, which could inflate perceived efficacy.
