Tirzepatide

Tirzepatide acts at two receptors, GIP and GLP-1, where semaglutide acts at one. It is an approved prescription medicine for type 2 diabetes and for weight management, and its trial programme included direct comparison against semaglutide.

It sits alongside semaglutide as one of the two compounds in this index with a genuinely large and rigorous evidence base. As with semaglutide, that evidence concerns the approved product used as labelled, and compounded material sold under the same name is a separate and contested supply that regulators have raised concerns about.

Type 2 diabetes, weight management and obstructive sleep apnoea, across large randomised trials including active-comparator studies.

Documented on the approved labelling, which is authoritative and carries a boxed warning regarding thyroid C-cell tumours observed in rodents. Gastrointestinal effects are the most commonly reported category; pancreatitis and gallbladder disease are documented.

An approved pharmaceutical product supplied as a pre-filled pen for injection, refrigerated.