Four in five people gain at least 25% of the weight back after stopping Mounjaro

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2025-11-25 03:00

International

Photo by i yunmai on Unsplash

Most people who lose weight taking diabetes drug tirzepatide (Mounjaro) gain some of it back once they stop taking the drug, according to international research. After a 36-week tirzepatide clinical trial funded by the drug's manufacturer, 308 participants were switched to a placebo drug, allowing the researchers to monitor how much weight they gained back. The researchers say these participants saw weight loss and health improvements while taking the drug, but in the year of receiving the placebo, 82% of those who had originally achieved meaningful weight loss had regained at least 25% of that weight. The more weight participants regained, the more reversal they saw in other health improvements, including blood pressure, cholesterol levels and fasting insulin, the researchers say.

Media release

From: JAMA

About The Study: In this post hoc analysis of the SURMOUNT-4 trial, among participants with obesity who achieved weight reduction with 36-week tirzepatide (a glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist) treatment, withdrawing tirzepatide led to 25% or greater weight regain in most participants within 1 year and was associated with a greater reversal of their initial cardiometabolic parameter improvements compared with those who maintained weight reduction. These findings underscore the importance of continued obesity treatment.

Attachments

Note: Not all attachments are visible to the general public. Research URLs will go live after the embargo ends.

Research JAMA, Web page The URL will go live after the embargo ends

Journal/
conference: JAMA Internal Medicine

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: University of Texas, USA, Eli Lilly and Company, USA

Funder: This study was sponsored by Eli Lilly and Company.

Media Contact/s

Contact details are only visible to registered journalists.