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LONDON — Two days after similar decisions in the U.S. and U.K., regulators in Europe on Friday recommended that the approval of Eli Lilly’s diabetes drug Mounjaro be widened to include obesity. 

The ruling from a committee of the European Medicines Agency now goes to the European Commission, which makes the final decision but almost always follows the EMA’s guidance. 

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Mounjaro, known scientifically as tirzepatide, is one of an emerging class of drugs that target receptors of the GLP-1 hormone, and sometimes other molecules, and that have had dramatic effects on weight loss. Doctors have been prescribing the diabetes drugs off-label for obesity, but having specific authorization could streamline the process of getting the medicines.

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