--- title: "Taking Mounjaro Reduces Risk of Developing Diabetes by 94 Percent in Three-Year Trial" description: "New findings from a long-term study found that Zepbound and Mounjaro almost completely eliminates the risk of developing diabetes." date: "2024-08-21" modified: "2024-08-21" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/neoscope/zepbound-mounjaro-reduces-diabetes-risk" categories: - "Health & Medicine" - "Medical" - "RX and Medicine" tags: - "Diabetes" - "eli lilly" - "mounjaro" - "tirzepatide" --- # Taking Mounjaro Reduces Risk of Developing Diabetes by 94 Percent in Three-Year Trial ![New findings from a long-term study found that Zepbound and Mounjaro almost completely eliminates the risk of developing diabetes.]() *\Image: Jaap Arriens / NurPhoto via Getty / Futurism\* Preliminary results from a three-year study into the effects of Eli Lilly's weight loss injectables Zepbound and Mounjaro found that they're extremely effective at reducing the risk of developing diabetes. In a [press release about the new findings](), Lilly boasted that weekly shots of tirzepatide, the active ingredient in Mounjaro and Zepbound, reduced the risk of the onset of diabetes by 94 percent in pre-diabetic trial subjects who were overweight or obese. Even after discontinuing the drug, which acts similarly to Ozempic and Wegovy's [glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) inhibitors](), subjects' risk of developing type 2 diabetes was still reduced by 88 percent — intriguing findings that suggest lasting protection even when the drug isn't being actively taken anymore. Defined [as having elevated or higher than normal blood sugar]() that doesn't meet the threshold for the actual disease, pre-diabetes can easily develop into diabetes without interventions. While exercise and a lower sugar diet are still considered the gold standard for reducing that risk, these findings add to the laundry list of good news surrounding these popular — and controversial — new weight loss drugs. In Lilly's three-year SURMOUNT-1 trial, which is currently in its third phase, 1,032 people with pre-diabetes took either tirzepatide or a placebo for 176 weeks, followed by a 17-week cooling-off period where the drug wasn't taken. As [*CNBC* notes](), this trial is the longest to date testing the effects of this new class of weight loss drugs. Comparing baseline results to where subjects were at the end of those three years, the researchers' statistical analysis found that at 176 weeks, subjects who took the active drug had a 93 to 94 percent lower chance of their pre-diabetes developing into full-blown diabetes. After the 17-week period when they didn't take it, that number lowered to 88 percent, which is still significant. Beyond appearing to lower the risk of developing diabetes, people who took active tirzepatide during the SURMOUNT-1 trial also experienced a nearly 23 percent decline in average body weight, which likely contributed to the lowered diabetes risk. As with [other drugs in this class of weight loss medications](), Lilly warns that the most common adverse effects experienced by subjects in the trial were gastrointestinal. The drugmaker advises those interested in taking tirzepatide to talk to their doctors about these common side effects. Lilly also added that anyone on oral birth control pills should also discuss changing medications because it's been shown to [decrease their efficacy]() — a little-known side-effect that could be linked to the [surprising number of unplanned pregnancies]() occurring when taking these new drugs. Notably, these new findings from the SURMOUNT-1 trial have not yet been peer-reviewed. In 2022, however, the [*New England Journal of Medicine* published]() a primary analysis from the first 72 weeks of the trial. As with every other new piece of news to come from these groundbreaking new weight loss meds, though, these findings have to be understood through the context of the many [billions of dollars they're making for drug manufacturers]() like Lilly — and through the broader lens of the weight loss industry, which has seen an [unfathomably huge boost]() from drugs like Ozempic and Mounjaro. **More on weight loss drugs:** [*FDA Says People Are Taking 20 Times the Proper Dose of Ozempic and Overdosing*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()