SURMOUNT-MAINTAINStudy shows that participants who continued treatment with the maximum tolerated dose of tirzepatide maintained all prior weight loss after one year.
ATTAIN-MAINTAINStudy shows that participants who switched from the maximum tolerated dose of semaglutide toorforglipronmaintained nearly all prior weight loss after one year, with an average weight regain of only0.9 kg.
ATTAIN-MAINTAINandSURMOUNT-MAINTAINstudies show that participants who switched from the maximum tolerated dose of tirzepatide toorforglipron, or reduced the tirzepatide dose to5 mg, generally maintained prior weight loss after one year, with average weight regain of only5.0 kgand5.6 kg, respectively.
ShanghaiMay 13, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — On May 13, 2026, Eli Lilly and Company announced detailed results from two late-stage clinical studies, SURMOUNT-MAINTAIN and ATTAIN-MAINTAIN. The studies showed that participants with obesity who received high-dose titrated injectable incretin therapy, whether switching to orforglipron or reducing the tirzepatide dose, achieved long-term weight maintenance. The results of the SURMOUNT-MAINTAIN and ATTAIN-MAINTAIN studies were presented at the 33rd European Congress on Obesity (ECO) and published in The Lancet and Nature Medicine, respectively.
Disclaimer:
1. Orforglipronis an investigational drug and has not been approved in China.
2. Eli Lilly does not recommend the use of any unapproved drugs/indications.
Dr. Louis J. Aronne, Founder and Honorary Chairman of the American Board of Obesity Medicine, Past President of The Obesity Society, Fellow of the American College of Physicians, world-renowned diabetes and obesity expert, and consultant to Eli Lilly, stated: “Weight regain remains one of the biggest challenges in obesity management, often linked to treatment discontinuation. Once treatment stops, the body’s own biological mechanisms may ‘fight back,’ causing resistance that affects existing weight loss results. Drugs have now been proven effective for long-term weight maintenance, and the results from SURMOUNT-MAINTAIN and ATTAIN-MAINTAIN provide new evidence on switching, suggesting broader potential applications for weight loss medications.”
In the SURMOUNT-MAINTAIN study, both the maximum tolerated dose (MTD) of tirzepatide and the 5 mg dose met the primary endpoint and all key secondary endpoints, indicating that after an initial 60-week treatment with tirzepatide MTD, both continuing tirzepatide MTD and reducing the dose to 5 mg helped maintain weight loss effects1,2. The primary endpoint of the study assessed that at Week 112, continuing tirzepatide treatment—whether reducing the dose to 5 mg or maintaining the MTD—was superior to placebo in terms of percent change in body weight from baseline. Results showed that at Week 112, participants who continued tirzepatide MTD maintained their prior weight loss on average, while those who reduced the dose to 5 mg experienced an average weight regain of only 5.6 kg.
SURMOUNT-MAINTAINWeight Maintenance Results
|
Continued TirzepatideMTD |
TirzepatideMTD Switched to Tirzepatide5 mg |
|
|
Mean Starting Body Weighti |
112.2 kg |
113.4 kg |
|
Mean Body Weight After 60 Weeks of Tirzepatide MTDii,iii |
89.5 kg |
89.0 kg |
|
Mean Body Weight After 52 Weeks of Maintenance Therapyii |
88.7 kg |
94.6 kg |
i. Observed means from the efficacy estimand analysis set.
ii. Analyzed using a mixed-effects model for repeated measures (MMRM) based on the efficacy estimand analysis set.
iii. Treatment used the maximum tolerated dose of tirzepatide 10 mg or 15 mg.
The ATTAIN-MAINTAIN study showed that under both the efficacy estimand and treatment regimen estimand, the primary endpoint and all key secondary endpoints were met1,2, with participants switching to orforglipron achieving long-term weight maintenance. The primary endpoint of the study aimed to assess whether orforglipron was superior to placebo in percent weight maintenance among participants from the SURMOUNT-5 study who had previously reached a plateau. Results at Week 52 showed that participants who switched from semaglutide MTD to orforglipron experienced an average weight regain of only 0.9 kg; those who switched from tirzepatide MTD experienced an average regain of only 5.0 kg.
ATTAIN-MAINTAINWeight Maintenance Results
|
Semaglutide Switched toOrforgliproniv |
Tirzepatide Switched toOrforgliproniv |
|
|
Mean Starting Body Weighti (At start of SURMOUNT-5 study) |
113.5 kg |
115.8 kg |
|
Mean Body Weight at Time of Switch to Oral Drugi,ii (At start of ATTAIN-MAINTAIN study) |
95.0 kg |
90.9 kg |
|
Mean Body Weight After 52 Weeks of Oral Maintenance Therapyiii (At end of ATTAIN-MAINTAIN study) |
95.9 kg |
95.9 kg |
i. Observed means from the efficacy estimand analysis set.
ii. Post-hoc analysis.
iii. Analyzed using a mixed-effects model for repeated measures (MMRM) based on the efficacy estimand analysis set.
iv. Treatment used the maximum tolerated dose of semaglutide 1.7 mg or 2.4 mg, or tirzepatide 10 mg or 15 mg.
Dr. Kenneth Custer, Executive Vice President and President of Cardiometabolic Health at Eli Lilly, stated: “Obesity is a chronic disease requiring long-term management, and patients urgently need sustainable treatment options. The results from SURMOUNT-MAINTAIN and ATTAIN-MAINTAIN show that both tirzepatide and the once-daily oral small-molecule GLP-1 receptor agonist orforglipron can help maintain weight loss effects. Eli Lilly is committed to providing diverse treatment options to support patients throughout their long-term weight management journey.”
Ms. Dehran, Vice President of Eli Lilly and General Manager of Lilly China, stated: “With the advancement of the Weight Management Year action plan and the continuous development of evidence-based medicine, obesity is increasingly recognized as a chronic disease requiring long-term management, urgently needing more scientific and standardized intervention methods. More and more studies show that weight loss is not the endpoint; maintenance after weight loss has become a key part of the obesity management process. Addressing this unmet patient need, Eli Lilly leverages 150 years of scientific accumulation and deep expertise in endocrinology and metabolism to continuously advance a diversified product portfolio, covering the full disease management journey from treatment initiation to long-term maintenance. We are also promoting a shift in obesity management philosophy from simply focusing on weight loss to placing greater emphasis on weight maintenance and personalized treatment.”
Professor Ji Linong, Chief Physician of the Endocrinology Department at Peking University People’s Hospital, stated: “The management of obesity, like other chronic diseases, inherently involves complexity and long-term commitment. The goal of obesity treatment is to reduce and maintain body weight within or near the normal range, thereby preserving the health benefits associated with weight improvement, such as improvements in cardiovascular risk factors, obstructive sleep apnea syndrome, and fatty liver disease, potentially even normalization. This is by no means a quick fix but a staged, personalized, long-term treatment process. Looking at the overall trajectory of weight changes after weight loss treatment, scientific weight management typically begins with an early phase of significant weight improvement, followed by a transition to a treatment maintenance phase. However, how to achieve personalized long-term management still lacks evidence-based clinical guidance.
The recently released SURMOUNT-MAINTAIN and ATTAIN-MAINTAIN studies provide key evidence: the choice of management strategy directly determines the long-term stability of weight improvement. Sustained drug intervention and comprehensive management can not only help maintain weight loss effects but also bring metabolic benefits beyond mere weight loss numbers, including improvements in cardiovascular risk factors. The clinical evidence obtained from these studies provides important guidance for the current use of drugs like tirzepatide for weight management in China and lays a solid clinical evidence foundation for exploring long-term obesity management models in clinical and public health settings.”
In both studies, the safety profiles of orforglipron and tirzepatide were consistent with previous Phase 3 studies.
SURMOUNT-MAINTAIN results showed that during the maintenance period, compared with placebo, the most common adverse events in the tirzepatide MTD group and tirzepatide 5 mg group were diarrhea (7.2% and 4.9% vs. 1.1%), vomiting (6.5% and 0.7% vs. 0%), and nausea (5.8% and 4.2% vs. 2.2%). During the maintenance period, discontinuation rates due to adverse events were: tirzepatide MTD group 0%, tirzepatide 5 mg group 0.7%, and placebo group 0%.
In the ATTAIN-MAINTAIN study, compared with placebo, the most common adverse events in the orforglipron group were nausea (18.8% vs. 4.1%), constipation (13.1% vs. 4.1%), vomiting (8.3% vs. 3.4%), and diarrhea (7.4% vs. 7.5%). Discontinuation rates due to adverse events were: semaglutide switched to orforglipron group 4.8%, semaglutide switched to placebo group 7.6%, tirzepatide switched to orforglipron group 7.2%, and tirzepatide switched to placebo group 6.3%.
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