Survodutide delivers up to 13.1% weight loss in phase 3 obesity and diabetes trial
pharmafile | October 6, 2026 | News story | | Diabetes, GLP-1, Obesity, diabetes, obesity, phase 3 trial
Boehringer Ingelheim’s investigational survodutide produced weight loss of up to 13.1% after 76 weeks in people with obesity or overweight and type 2 diabetes (T2D), while also improving glycaemic control in the phase 3 SYNCHRONIZE-2 trial.
The trial met its co-primary endpoints, with 79.3% of patients receiving survodutide achieving at least 5% weight loss, compared with 32.7% in the placebo group. The 13.1% reduction in body weight compared with 3.1% with placebo was statistically significant (p<0.0001).
Survodutide also reduced HbA1c by up to 1.21 percentage points from a baseline of 7.4%, compared with 0.03 percentage points with placebo. Waist circumference fell by 11.1cm with survodutide versus 3.5cm with placebo.
The glucagon/GLP-1 receptor dual agonist also produced improvements in fasting glucose, insulin resistance and insulin secretion. Up to 29.5% of patients receiving survodutide reached normoglycaemia, defined as HbA1c below 5.7%, compared with 4% of those receiving placebo.
SYNCHRONIZE-2 involved adults with obesity or overweight and T2D who received survodutide or placebo for 76 weeks. The results were presented at the European Association for the Study of Diabetes annual meeting and published in The New England Journal of Medicine.
Gastrointestinal adverse events were the most common with survodutide, including nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea and constipation. Treatment discontinuation due to gastrointestinal events occurred in 18% of patients receiving survodutide compared with 1.2% in the placebo group, with most discontinuations occurring during dose escalation.
Survodutide is designed to target glucagon and GLP-1 receptors and is being investigated across obesity, T2D and metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH). It has not been approved for use, and its efficacy and safety have not been established.
Pic: Towfiqu Barbhuiya
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