By Xavier Martinez

AstraZeneca's experimental GLP-1 pill cut body weight by nearly 12% in obese patients over 36 weeks and reduced A1C, a metric for blood-sugar levels, by 1.9 percentage points on average in diabetic patients, according to Phase 2 trial results presented Monday at the American Diabetes Association's annual conference.

The results, which were simultaneously published in The Lancet, are part of a broader push by the British drugmaker to target diabetes, heart disease, kidney failure and liver disease-not cosmetic weight loss-in a bet that treating specific conditions will keep insurers paying as coverage for weight-loss drugs tightens.

"Payers, employers, who in the end pay the bill, they're starting to think, 'I want people to be healthy, but I don't necessarily want to pay for people who want to look good before going to the beach this coming summer,'" AstraZeneca Chief Executive Officer Pascal Soriot said in an interview. "We want to show payers that we help all types of patients."

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 08, 2026 18:25 ET (22:25 GMT)

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