Revolutionary weight-loss jab Tirzepatide – which is sold under the name Zepbound – could save patients from life-threatening liver failure, study finds

A revolutionary weight-loss jab could save patients from life-threatening liver failure, a study has discovered.

Tirzepatide, sold under the name Zepbound, is an injectable anti-obesity drug that suppresses appetite by artificially activating the hormones that make you feel full – much like popular jabs Ozempic and Wegovy.

Yet fresh research suggests patients on tirzepatide – which was last week approved for use on the NHS – lose twice as much weight compared to those taking Ozempic or Wegovy.

But the weekly jab could also transform liver disease treatment, the study reveals.

More than half of patients with fatty liver disease, often triggered by obesity, saw an improvement in their symptoms after being given tirzepatide.

More than half of patients with fatty liver disease, often triggered by obesity, saw an improvement in their symptoms after being given tirzepatide (Stock image)

The condition occurs when excess fat cells inflame the liver and cause scarring – known as fibrosis. Some 10,000 people in the UK die every year due to liver disease once the organ can no longer properly filter toxins out of the body. While most cases are caused by alcohol abuse, one in four are due to fatty liver disease.

In the new study carried out by tirzepatide’s developer, US pharmaceutical firm Eli Lilly, almost 55 per cent of participants who were given an increased 5mg dose of tirzepatide saw their fibrosis decrease significantly.

In comparison, less than a third of patients on the trial who were given a placebo saw an improvement in their scarring.

Experts claim the weight-loss triggered by tirzepatide also burns up the fat in the liver.

Naveed Sattar, professor of cardiometabolic medicine at the University of Glasgow, said the ‘exciting’ findings marked a breakthrough in liver disease treatment.

‘More people with liver disease will in the future be treated with approved anti-obesity medicines,’ he says. ‘And by enabling large weight loss, tirzepatide will slow the development or improve the management of a range of other diseases common in people with liver disease – such as type 2 diabetes.’