AstraZeneca just reported phase 2 results for a new once-daily GLP-1 pill called elecoglipron. The numbers look great on the surface. The question the press is not asking: does it actually reverse the disease?
What the New Study Shows
AstraZeneca’s elecoglipron is a once-daily oral GLP-1 receptor agonist — the first of its kind in a pill form, no injection required. In the phase 2 SOLSTICE trial in adults with Type 2 diabetes, reported in The Lancet and covered in detail by STAT News, the highest dose lowered A1c by up to 1.88 percentage points and produced about 7.7% average weight loss at 26 weeks. In a separate obesity trial called VISTA, patients lost roughly 10.5% of their body weight at 26 weeks and about 11.8% at 36 weeks.
The drug is moving into phase 3 development. Investors are excited. Endocrinologists are cautiously optimistic. Headlines are calling it a “game changer” for the millions of people who hate weekly injections.
Here is what the headlines are skipping: elecoglipron is still a management tool. It lowers blood sugar. It helps with weight. It does not reverse Type 2 diabetes. It does not take anyone off medication. And it comes with the same GLP-1 side effect profile — nausea, diarrhea, constipation, vomiting — that has tens of thousands of patients quitting Ozempic and Mounjaro within the first six months.
What the Press Isn’t Asking
Lowering your A1c from 8.5 to 6.6 is a real win. We celebrate that win. Medication has its place. GLP-1s have helped a lot of people stabilize their blood sugar while they figure out the next step.
But “lower A1c on medication” is not the same as “off all medication with an A1c below 5.7%.” The first is management. The second is reversal. They are not interchangeable.
The mainstream conversation around GLP-1s — whether it is the new AstraZeneca pill, Ozempic, Mounjaro, or Zepbound — is built on a single assumption: Type 2 diabetes is a chronic, progressive disease you live with and control for the rest of your life. Accept the diagnosis. Take the medication. Manage the symptoms. Hope the side effects do not push you off the drug.
That assumption is wrong. Type 2 diabetes is a metabolic dysfunction driven by what you eat, how you move, and how your body responds to insulin. Address those root causes and the disease can be put into remission. Not managed. Remitted.
What Reversal Actually Looks Like
Reversal means an A1c below 6.4% — off every diabetes medication — sustained over time. It does not mean a lower number on the same drug. It means no drug.
At the Diabetes Reversal Group, we built the world’s only patented system designed to do exactly that. The patent was granted in September 2020. Our average patient reaches reversal in about 4.5 months, with an average completion A1c of 5.7%. The program delivers 240 recipes, 7-day meal plans, telemedicine visits, and a mobile app that walks you through the protocol day by day. Sixteen years of patient outcomes and an independent peer-reviewed study back it up.
The real patient outcomes on our testimonial page tell this story better than any data we can put in a blog post — people who came to us on metformin, on insulin, on Mounjaro, and who are now sitting at A1cs in the 5s, off every diabetes medication they were ever prescribed.
Big Pharma will keep building better pills. That is good for the people who need medication while they transition. But if your goal is to actually reverse Type 2 diabetes — to get off the medication, not just lower the dose — there is a different path. We built it
The Next Step
If you have been told Type 2 diabetes is a life sentence, watch our free webinar. We walk through the science, the patient outcomes, and exactly how the program works. Or call our team and talk to a real person about whether reversal is right for you. Both options are free, no commitment required.
By:
Dr. Jeffrey Hockings, Co-Founder/CEO, Diabetes Reversal Group
Kristine Burke, MD, Chief Medical Officer, Diabetes Reversal Group