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A pharmacist displays a box of Mounjaro, a tirzepatide injection drug used for treating type 2 diabetes made by Lilly at Rock Canyon Pharmacy in Provo, Utah, U.S. March 29, 2023. REUTERS/George Frey/File Photo Acquire Licensing Rights
Nov 10 (Reuters) – Europe’s medicines regulator said on Friday its human medicines committee had recommended Eli Lilly’s (LLY.N) diabetes drug Mounjaro also be approved as a weight-loss treatment.
The drug, tirzepatide, has been sold under the brand name Mounjaro to treat type-2 diabetes since 2022.
The change in marketing authorisation is yet to be granted by the European Commission, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) said.
On Wednesday, U.S. and UK regulators both gave a thumbs up to the drug as a weight-loss treatment, which will be sold under the brand name Zepbound for the expanded label.
Mounjaro had increasingly been used “off-label” for weight loss, while the obesity approval was pending.
Zepbound will be on U.S. shelves later this month, and in the U.K. “sooner rather than later,” the company said.
Reporting by Eva Mathews in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli and Savio D’Souza
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