CATEGORY: DIET & WEIGHT
A weekly injection that leans on two of the body’s hormone signals at once cut body weight by about 14% over 48 weeks in a randomized trial of 610 Chinese adults with obesity or weight-related health problems, while placebo left weight essentially where it started.1 Nearly half the people on the higher dose lost at least 15% of their body weight. Among those on placebo, 2% did.
Appetite Turned Down, Energy Use Turned Up
Mazdutide imitates two hormones rather than one. Like semaglutide, it activates GLP-1, a gut-hormone signal that quiets appetite and steadies blood sugar after meals. It also switches on the glucagon receptor, a second signal that nudges the body to spend more energy and helps clear fat out of the liver. You can picture it as easing off the accelerator while opening a drain at the same time.
Two Doses Against Placebo Across a Year of Ordinary Life
Volunteers were adults aged 18 to 75 who met Chinese medical criteria for obesity, or for overweight with at least one weight-related condition. A computer sorted them into three equal groups at random: a lower weekly dose, a higher weekly dose, or placebo shots. Nobody picked their own group. By week 48, average weight was down 11% on the lower dose and 14% on the higher one, and had barely moved on placebo.1 Waistlines shrank, liver fat dropped, and blood pressure and cholesterol improved alongside. The familiar stomach-related complaints of this drug family, mostly mild nausea and diarrhea, were common, yet only about 1% of participants stopped because of them.
What It Means Beyond China
Mazdutide was approved in China in June 2025, and so far that’s the only place it’s available. It also hasn’t been tested outside Chinese adults, so how these numbers travel to other populations is an open question. The trial ran 48 weeks and no longer. What happens to weight after the injections stop wasn’t part of it, and that question matters as much as the headline figure. It’s also worth noting that the weight-loss range reported here is broadly similar to what’s been reported in separate trials of other weekly injections already available in the U.S. and elsewhere. This trial didn’t test mazdutide head-to-head against those drugs, so whether its dual-hormone approach offers any real-world advantage over single-hormone options isn’t something these results can answer. For now, the main interest of this study may be scientific—showing that a two-hormone approach can work—rather than a signal that people outside China are missing a better option.
Key Takeaways
- Mazdutide, a weekly shot working through GLP-1 and glucagon signals together, cut weight about 14% at its higher dose over 48 weeks; placebo produced almost no change. Waist size, liver fat, blood pressure and cholesterol improved as well.
- The evidence comes entirely from Chinese adults, and the drug is approved only in China. Neither its effects in other groups nor what follows week 48 has been studied.
- The reported weight loss falls in a similar range to other weekly injections already available elsewhere, and this trial didn’t directly compare mazdutide against them.
References
- Ji L, Jiang H, Bi Y, et al. Once-Weekly Mazdutide in Chinese Adults with Obesity or Overweight. New England Journal of Medicine. 2025;392(22):2215-2225. link