EASD 2026, the 62nd annual meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes, runs from September 28 to October 2, 2026 at the Allianz MiCo convention center in Milan.
Novo presented 44 abstracts, including OCTANE, a U.S. real-world study of people switching to the Wegovy pill. Lilly brought full Phase 3 TRIUMPH-2 results for retatrutide, published in The Lancet on September 30 (up to 20.8% weight loss at 80 weeks in adults with obesity and type 2 diabetes), and on October 1 showed in ACHIEVE-4 that its oral drug Foundayo was noninferior to insulin glargine on heart events. Boehringer's survodutide reached up to 13.1% weight loss in SYNCHRONIZE-2, with 18% stopping for gastrointestinal side effects.
The meeting closed on October 2 with the 2026 ADA-EASD type 2 diabetes consensus, which moves SGLT2 inhibitors and GLP-1-based therapies earlier in treatment. A Novo-funded Nordic registry study found no link between semaglutide and pancreatic cancer (hazard ratio 0.91), and Lilly's EloraTZP combination produced 23.3% weight loss at 48 weeks versus 14.8% for tirzepatide alone.
See #retatrutide, #cagrisema, and #amycretin.
Novo Nordisk reported on Thursday, October 1, 2026, at EASD in Milan, a post hoc, exploratory analysis pooling 1,919 adults from its STEP UP and STEP UP T2D trials who took Wegovy 7.2 mg, Wegovy 2.4 mg, or placebo. In a 55-person subgroup whose liver fat was measured by MRI, average liver fat fell from 8.8% at baseline to 3.1% at week 72, and 23 of the 26 participants who started above the 5% threshold for fatty liver ended below it. Liver fat was not a prespecified endpoint of either trial, and Novo pooled the two Wegovy doses for the MRI result.
Lilly announced on Tuesday, September 29, 2026 an indirect treatment comparison, presented at EASD, of Zepbound (tirzepatide) 10 mg and 15 mg against Novo's Wegovy HD (semaglutide 7.2 mg), using its own SURMOUNT-1 trial and Novo's STEP UP trial in adults with obesity and without diabetes. At 72 weeks, under the treatment-regimen estimand, Zepbound 15 mg and 10 mg were estimated to give 4.5 and 3.2 percentage points more weight loss; under the efficacy estimand, the differences were 1.8 and 0.7 points and were not statistically significant. Lilly said discontinuation for adverse events was comparable; the analysis was Lilly-funded, and the two drugs have not been tested head to head at these doses.
The American Diabetes Association and the European Association for the Study of Diabetes published their 2026 consensus report on managing type 2 diabetes in non-pregnant adults on Friday, October 2, 2026, in Diabetes Care and Diabetologia, presenting it at EASD in Milan; it updates the 2022 report. Chaired by John Buse and Melanie Davies, it calls for earlier use of glucose-lowering medicines to prevent complications and earlier use of SGLT2 inhibitors and GLP-1-based therapies to modify disease and reduce complication risk, tailored to each person's cardiovascular and kidney risk. It also sets individualized weight-management goals and gives more attention to coexisting conditions such as metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD).
A Phase 2 trial of ribupatide, the weekly GLP-1/GIP dual agonist injection that Hengrui licensed to Kailera Therapeutics outside Greater China, enrolled 158 Chinese women aged 18 to 40 with obesity or overweight and polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome (PMOS). After 32 weeks, weight fell 10% on 1 mg, 15.1% on 2 mg, and 20.2% on 4 mg versus 2.6% on placebo, according to an EASD abstract reported by BioSpace on Friday, October 2, 2026. All three ribupatide groups had more frequent menstrual cycles, while cycles became less frequent on placebo, and there were no serious adverse events or adverse events that led to stopping the study.
Ascletis Pharma announced on Friday, October 2, 2026 preclinical data presented at EASD for ASC36_35FDC, a fixed-dose injection that combines its peptide amylin receptor agonist ASC36 with its peptide GLP-1/GIP receptor agonist ASC35. In non-human primates, the two components had half-lives of about 781 hours (33 days) and 721 hours (30 days), which the company says could support once-monthly and possibly once-quarterly dosing in people. In diet-induced obese rats, the combination cut body weight 24.8% at day 14 versus 12.5% for an eloralintide/tirzepatide combination and 16.8% for MET-233i/tirzepatide at the same dosing; the results come from animals only.
Lilly presented the Phase 3 ACHIEVE-4 trial of its oral small-molecule GLP-1 drug Foundayo (orforglipron) at EASD on Thursday, October 1, 2026, alongside publication in The Lancet. In 2,749 adults with type 2 diabetes, overweight or obesity, and increased cardiovascular risk, Foundayo met its noninferiority goal against insulin glargine for cardiovascular death, heart attack, stroke, or hospitalization for unstable angina (MACE-4 hazard ratio 0.84; 95% CI 0.59 to 1.20); the three-part MACE-3 hazard ratio was 0.77 (95% CI 0.52 to 1.13). At 52 weeks, A1C fell 1.6 points versus 1.0 and weight fell 8.8% versus a 1.7% gain on glargine. Lilly also reported a lower rate of death from any cause (hazard ratio 0.43) but described that analysis as exploratory and not controlled for multiple comparisons; 10.6% of Foundayo patients stopped treatment because of adverse events.
Boehringer Ingelheim and partner Zealand Pharma reported on Thursday, October 1, 2026 that the Phase 3 SYNCHRONIZE-2 trial of survodutide, a weekly glucagon/GLP-1 receptor dual agonist, met its co-primary endpoints in 755 adults with obesity or overweight and type 2 diabetes; the results were presented at EASD and published in the New England Journal of Medicine. At 76 weeks, under the efficacy estimand, weight fell up to 13.1% on survodutide (3.6 mg and 6.0 mg doses were tested) versus 3.1% on placebo, and HbA1c fell up to 1.21 points from a baseline of 7.4% versus 0.03. Eighteen percent of survodutide patients stopped treatment because of gastrointestinal side effects, versus 1.2% on placebo, and Zealand's shares fell 11.7% in Copenhagen, according to Investing.com.
Lilly presented full results of TRIUMPH-2 at EASD on Wednesday, September 30, 2026, alongside publication in The Lancet: 1,152 adults with obesity or overweight and type 2 diabetes were randomized to weekly retatrutide 4, 9, or 12 mg or placebo for 80 weeks. Under the efficacy estimand, weight fell 12.7%, 19.1%, and 20.8% versus 4.0% with placebo, A1C fell 1.4, 1.6, and 1.5 points versus 0.2, 59.5% of people on 12 mg no longer met BMI criteria for obesity, and up to 40.0% reached an A1C below 5.7%. Discontinuation for adverse events was 3.8%, 11.6%, and 7.7% versus 4.9% on placebo, and dysesthesia, abnormal skin sensations, occurred in 4.5% to 7.3% of retatrutide patients versus 0.7%. Lilly plans to submit retatrutide to the FDA in the first quarter of 2027.
Lilly announced on Wednesday, September 30, 2026 Phase 2b results for EloraTZP, the amylin receptor agonist eloralintide given with tirzepatide as separate injections, in 367 adults with obesity or overweight and type 2 diabetes across 10 arms. At 48 weeks, under the efficacy estimand, eloralintide 9 mg plus tirzepatide 15 mg produced 23.3% weight loss versus 14.8% with tirzepatide 15 mg alone and 3.0% with placebo, and A1C fell 2.9 points versus 2.4 and 0.3 from a baseline near 8.1%. Discontinuation for adverse events was 10.8% to 27.0% with the combinations, 2.9% with tirzepatide alone, and 16.7% with placebo, and gastrointestinal events were more frequent on the combinations. Lilly plans to start Phase 3 trials of a co-formulated EloraTZP product by the end of 2026 with an adjusted dose-escalation schedule.
Novo presented at EASD on Wednesday, September 30, 2026 OCTANE, a retrospective analysis of de-identified data from the telehealth company Ro covering 194 adults who switched from injectable semaglutide or tirzepatide to the once-daily Wegovy pill between January 5 and February 7, 2026. From a mean baseline weight of 100.5 kg and BMI of 34.5, participants lost an average of 4.1% of body weight (4.0 kg) over three months, 40.7% lost at least 5%, and the share with a BMI of 30 or higher fell from 87.1% to 65.5%. Novo listed limitations including self-reported and incomplete data and selection bias from counting only people who stayed on treatment; the release did not give the injectable doses people switched from.
Sciwind Biosciences reported at EASD on Wednesday, September 30, 2026 a Phase 1b, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of ecnoglutide, its cAMP-biased GLP-1 receptor agonist approved in China for adults, in 48 adolescents aged 12 to 17 with obesity whose BMI had fallen less than 5% after at least 12 weeks of diet and exercise. After 20 weeks on 1.2, 1.8, or 2.4 mg, BMI fell 11.2% to 12.6% and body weight 10.4% to 12.1%, versus 0.0% and a 1.2% gain on placebo. There were no treatment-related serious adverse events, most side effects were mild, transient gastrointestinal reactions, and drug exposure resembled that in adults; Sciwind said a Phase 3 adolescent trial has begun.
Zealand Pharma announced on Tuesday, September 29, 2026 that the Phase 2 ZUPREME-1 trial of petrelintide, its once-weekly human amylin analog partnered with Roche, has been published in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology, with more results due in an EASD oral presentation on September 30. The trial randomized 485 adults with obesity (mean BMI 36.7) to weekly petrelintide at 1.0 to 9.0 mg or placebo for 42 weeks, including dose escalation. Mean weight loss reached up to 10.7% versus 1.7% with placebo under the efficacy estimand and up to 10.2% versus 1.4% under the treatment-policy estimand; waist circumference fell up to 10.8 cm versus 4.3 cm, and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein fell up to 41% versus 6%. Zealand said gastrointestinal side effects were mostly mild and at rates similar to placebo, with no vomiting and no GI-related discontinuations at the maximally effective dose.
A post-authorization safety study required by the European Medicines Agency and funded by Novo, presented at EASD by Anton Pottegård of the University of Southern Denmark, compared 97,464 new users of semaglutide for type 2 diabetes in Denmark, Sweden, and Norway with propensity-matched new users of insulin, a sulfonylurea, or an SGLT2 inhibitor. After a one-year lag, there were 131 pancreatic cancers among semaglutide users and 123 among comparators, a pooled hazard ratio of 0.91 (95% CI 0.71 to 1.16). Median follow-up after the lag was 1.4 to 1.85 years, which limits conclusions about longer-term risk.
Novo announced on Tuesday, September 29, 2026 results of COMPETE SWITCH CV, a retrospective analysis of U.S. claims data from Komodo Health (January 2018 to September 2025) in adults with type 2 diabetes who had been taking semaglutide 1 mg. Over up to 720 days, the 185,705 people who escalated to semaglutide 2 mg had a 6% lower adjusted risk of death, heart attack, or stroke than the 23,104 who switched to tirzepatide (adjusted hazard ratio for switching 1.06; 95% CI 1.04 to 1.08). Novo said the analysis shows an association rather than cause and effect, may carry residual confounding, and did not assess safety outcomes.
Lilly announced on Tuesday, September 29, 2026 an indirect treatment comparison, presented at EASD, of its oral small-molecule GLP-1 drug Foundayo (orforglipron) 17.2 mg against Novo's oral semaglutide 25 mg in adults with type 2 diabetes, using data from Lilly's ACHIEVE-3 trial and Novo's PIONEER PLUS trial. At 52 weeks, Foundayo was associated with 1.5 percentage points more weight loss (95% CI -2.7 to -0.2) and a 0.3-point larger A1C reduction (95% CI -0.6 to -0.1); sensitivity analyses gave 1.5 to 2.4 points and 0.3 to 0.6 points. Lilly's Rachel Batterham said head-to-head trials give the best comparison of two medicines, and the two drugs have not been tested directly against each other at these doses.
Researchers led by Karen Hvid of Copenhagen University Hospital, Herlev, are presenting at the EASD annual meeting in Milan an analysis of 313,145 adults with a BMI of 25 or higher and no coronary heart disease or diabetes, drawn from the Copenhagen General Population Study and UK Biobank and followed for up to 18 and 15 years. About 44% (Copenhagen) and 48% (UK Biobank) of people with a BMI of 25 to 26.9, who fall below current GLP-1 weight-loss eligibility, had elevated remnant cholesterol, low-grade inflammation, or both. Those with both markers and no drug indication were 41% (Copenhagen) and 47% (UK Biobank) more likely to develop heart disease than people without an indication and with healthy levels, compared with increases of 41% and 35% among people who already qualify for the drugs. The findings are observational, and the authors said clinical trials are needed.
Novo Nordisk said on Wednesday, September 16, 2026 that it will present 44 abstracts at the 62nd Annual Meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) in Milan, Italy, from September 28 to October 2. The OCTANE study will report real-world data on Wegovy pill use, including weight outcomes, treatment switching, and patient-reported outcomes. Other presentations cover Wegovy 7.2 mg; CagriSema (cagrilintide plus semaglutide) data on appetite regulation, eating behavior, body composition, and bone remodeling from the REDEFINE and REIMAGINE programs; and zenagamtide, the unimolecular GLP-1 and amylin receptor agonist formerly called amycretin.
The European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) 62nd Annual Meeting in Milan September 28 through October 2, 2026 sets up the September obesity-peptide catalyst calendar and is anchored on the amylin agonist class. AstraZeneca will present Phase 2 APRICUS data (AZD6234 amylin analog monotherapy in obesity) plus the Phase 2b ASCEND readout (AZD6234 plus AZD9550 GLP-1/glucagon dual agonist combination against placebo over 36 weeks, 377 patients). Zealand Pharma and Roche will present petrelintide ZUPREME-2 data (obesity plus type 2 diabetes) with Phase 3 monotherapy initiation planned late 2026. Novo Nordisk will present amycretin (long-acting GLP-1/amylin dual agonist) plus CagriSema follow-through data. The EASD readout window coincides with Roche's Pharma Day September 28 (updates on petrelintide, enicepatide, HM17321). Ascendis Pharma may also provide TransCon CNP achondroplasia updates. The clustered amylin data will position the class for late-2026 and 2027 regulatory and Phase 3 initiation decisions.