COPENHAGEN, Denmark — October 1, 2026

Zealand Pharma A/S announced positive results from the Phase III SYNCHRONIZE-2 trial evaluating Boehringer Ingelheim’s investigational glucagon/GLP-1 receptor dual agonist survodutide (BI 456906) in adults with obesity or overweight and type 2 diabetes (T2D). The trial met its co-primary endpoints, with participants achieving up to 13.1% average weight loss after 76 weeks, compared with 3.1% with placebo using the efficacy estimand (p<0.0001). Up to 79.3% of participants receiving survodutide achieved at least 5% weight loss, compared with 32.7% with placebo.

SYNCHRONIZE-2 Shows Improvements in Glycemic and Cardiometabolic Measures

Survodutide also produced significant improvements in glycemic control and other cardiometabolic measures. HbA1c decreased by up to 1.21 percentage points from a baseline of 7.4%, compared with a 0.03-point reduction with placebo. Waist circumference decreased by 11.1 cm with survodutide versus 3.5 cm with placebo. The trial also showed improvements in fasting glucose, insulin sensitivity and markers of insulin resistance and secretion. Up to 29.5% of participants receiving survodutide reverted to normoglycemia, compared with 4.0% with placebo. The results were presented at the 62nd Annual Meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes and published simultaneously in The New England Journal of Medicine..

Survodutide Shows Predominant Fat Loss and Muscle Preservation

Additional body-composition findings from the SYNCHRONIZE-1 substudy showed preferential reductions in visceral and liver fat. MRI-based assessments indicated that reductions in metabolically active visceral and liver fat occurred across levels of weight loss. A muscle-specific analysis found that muscle accounted for no more than 10% of total tissue lost, while adipose tissue represented the majority of weight reduction. These findings add to the broader SYNCHRONIZE program evaluating survodutide across obesity, metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease and related cardiometabolic conditions.

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Survodutide Continues Phase III Development Across Metabolic Diseases

Survodutide remains an investigational therapy and has not been approved for use. Boehringer Ingelheim is evaluating the compound across a broad Phase III development program covering obesity, T2D, MASH and cardiovascular outcomes. The ongoing program includes SYNCHRONIZE-CVOT, with results expected later in 2026, as well as SYNCHRONIZE-T2D and the LIVERAGE studies in MASH and fibrosis. Survodutide is licensed to Boehringer Ingelheim from Zealand Pharma, with Boehringer responsible for global development and commercialization. The SYNCHRONIZE-2 results add clinical evidence on the potential of dual glucagon/GLP-1 receptor agonism to address weight reduction alongside glycemic and broader metabolic measures.

Source: Zealand Pharma press release