Eli Lilly’s Tirzepatide shows up to 66% reduction in sleep apnea severity in adults with obesity
In a recent development, Eli Lilly & Co. announced that its weight-loss medication, Tirzepatide, has shown promising results in alleviating symptoms of obstructive sleep apnea, a disorder primarily associated with obesity. This revelation emerged from two advanced clinical trials, wherein Tirzepatide significantly reduced the incidences of diminished or halted breathing during sleep by up to 63%, surpassing the anticipations of Jefferies analysts who had projected a reduction range of 50% to 55%.
During these year-long studies, participants experienced a substantial decrease in body weight, with losses nearing 20%, as reported by Lilly. The pharmaceutical giant intends to present the comprehensive findings from these studies at the upcoming American Diabetes Association conference in June. Subsequently, plans are underway to submit these results to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and other international regulatory bodies starting mid-year.
The potential approval of Tirzepatide for treating sleep apnea could significantly broaden patient access to the drug through insurance coverage. Currently, weight loss medications like Tirzepatide do not receive coverage under Medicare, the U.S. federal health programme for the elderly and certain individuals on long-term disability. Such approval would not only facilitate greater competition with Novo Nordisk A/S—whose leading weight-loss drug, Wegovy, has recently gained insurance coverage for some Medicare beneficiaries with cardiac conditions—but also position Lilly at the forefront of addressing the underlying causes of sleep apnea.
Jeff Emmick, Lilly’s senior vice president of product development, emphasised the transformative potential of Tirzepatide, highlighting its capacity as the inaugural pharmaceutical intervention targeting the fundamental aspects of the disease. Given the correlation between weight loss and improvements in sleep apnea symptoms, widespread insurance coverage for Tirzepatide could potentially prevent up to 5.6 million cases of this sleep disorder by 2030, as estimated by analytics firm Airfinity.
Nevertheless, despite these advances, analysts from Airfinity caution that while GLP-1 drugs like Tirzepatide will significantly reduce sleep apnea incidences, they are unlikely to eradicate the disorder entirely.
The study enrolled 469 participants suffering from obesity and sleep apnea, with some receiving Tirzepatide alone and others receiving both the drug and using breathing devices. Results indicated a more pronounced average reduction in the apnea-hypopnea index (AHI)—a diagnostic measure quantifying the severity of sleep apnea based on the number of breathing disruptions per hour of sleep—for those utilising both the medication and breathing devices compared to those solely on medication.
The approval of Tirzepatide for sleep apnea treatment could also influence the market for respiratory support devices. Companies like ResMed Inc. and Inspire Medical Systems Inc., which manufacture such equipment, may see a reduction in demand, with Airfinity projecting a potential market contraction of over 11% in the coming years due to the increased use of weight loss drugs as a therapeutic alternative.
