Overview
- The phase 2 results, presented at the American Diabetes Association meeting and published in The Lancet, showed clinically meaningful benefits across two trials and prompted AstraZeneca to move the drug into Phase 3.
- In the VISTA obesity study the highest‑dose group lost up to about 11–11.8% of body weight by 36 weeks, and in the SOLSTICE diabetes trial elecoglipron cut HbA1c by up to roughly 1.9 percentage points at 26 weeks versus placebo.
- Gastrointestinal side effects were common and dose‑related, with peak rates reported as nausea 56% versus 20% for placebo, constipation 42% versus 6%, diarrhea 35% versus 25%, and vomiting 29% versus 5%, and some participants stopped treatment because of side effects.
- AstraZeneca’s Phase 3 plan will include trials to test durability of weight loss, study optimal titration strategies to reduce GI problems, and run formal cardiovascular and renal outcome studies to assess long‑term safety.
- The findings position elecoglipron as a promising entrant in an already crowded oral GLP‑1 market led by Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly, but larger and longer Phase 3 trials are needed to confirm real‑world benefit, tolerability and how the pill will affect access and cost for patients.