There are different liver diseases, one of which is fatty liver, which affects 30% of the population worlwide. Of patients diagnosed with fatty liver disease, 70% are overweight or obese, so one of the strategies for improving this disease would be weight loss.There are several weight loss drugs on the market, always to be taken under medical supervision (Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro).
These drugs must be administered by subcutaneous injection, which can limit the start of treatment and adherence to it, as most patients prefer oral medication to injectable ones. In this regard, the oral use of a small-molecule, nonpeptide glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1), called Orforglipron (OR), is being investigated as a treatment for obesity.
Study results in patient groups
An article published in The New England Journal of Medicine studied the Orforglipron for the treatment of obesity. This study included 3,127 overweight patients with a body mass index greater than 27 who did not suffer from any type of diabetes. They were divided into four groups and administered Ooforglipron or placebo (group I: 6 mg, group II: 12 mg, group III: 36 mg, and group IV: placebo) orally every day for 72 weeks. Between 93% and 96.5% of the patients included completed the treatment, as this drug causes side effects such as nausea, constipation, diarrhea, and more. In the case of patients treated with Orforglipron, weight loss was between 7.5% and 11.2%, compared to 2.1% of those treated with placebo.
We can conclude from this study that Orforglipron is a useful weight loss drug for patients who do not want to receive subcutaneous injections. Dr. Carreño and the Foundation´s doctors agree that this drug can be administered to many patients, but it would be advisable to compare its efficacy with other currently available injectable drugs, such as Ozempic, Wegovy, or Mounjaro.
