Losing weight and keeping it off are different questions
Adults with obesity or overweight who had received tirzepatide for 36 weeks.
What did they want to find out?
What happened over the next year with continuation or a switch to placebo?
What did researchers observe?
Continuation maintained more of the reduction; switching to placebo was accompanied by weight regain.
What does this mean for you?
The reference point for these percentages is the end of the initial phase.
What we still do not know
This is not a comparison of starting from zero and not an instruction to stop or continue.
Show study details
Original sources checked on 4 October 2026. AI-assisted editorial summaries, not a systematic review or an independent medical assessment.
Continued Treatment With Tirzepatide for Maintenance of Weight Reduction in Adults With Obesity: The SURMOUNT-4 Randomized Clinical Trial
JAMA · 2024
How it was studied
Double-blind randomized withdrawal trial: 36-week initial phase and 52-week comparison.. 670 adults without diabetes, selected from 783 who began the intervention..
Study finding
From week 36 to 88, weight changed −5.5% with continuation and +14.0% after switching to placebo.
Study limitations
Participants had already tolerated the initial phase; gastrointestinal symptoms were common. This does not predict everyone's starting experience.
Who is behind the study?
- Identified authors
- Louis J. Aronne, Naveed Sattar, Deborah B. Horn, Harold E. Bays, Sean Wharton, Wen-Yuan Lin, Nadia N. Ahmad, Shuyu Zhang, Ran Liao, Mathijs C. Bunck, Irina Jouravskaya, Madhumita A. Murphy
- Funding and involvement
- Eli Lilly and Company; involved in design, conduct, analysis and manuscript, with no declared publication veto.
- Disclosed interests and verification limits
- Several authors disclosed Lilly employment and shares; others disclosed company fees or funding, including Lilly.
Terms explained
- Initial phase
- The period before random assignment when everyone received the intervention.
Read the source and its limitations. A reference does not automatically validate a commercial product.
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