A review of survodutide: a new dual acting agonist.

This paper is a narrative review examining survodutide, a dual GLP-1 and glucagon receptor agonist, in the context of obesity, metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH), and related metabolic conditions including type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. The authors summarize survodutide's proposed mechanism of action — encompassing appetite suppression, improved glucose metabolism, and increased energy expenditure — and compare its dual-agonist profile against single-target incretin-based therapies such as GLP-1 receptor agonists alone. The review synthesizes findings from early-phase clinical trials, which the authors report showed significant weight loss and improvements in metabolic markers. Safety and tolerability are also discussed, alongside broader cardiovascular and metabolic benefits suggested by preliminary data. The authors acknowledge that the evidence base remains limited, stressing that long-term safety, durability of effect, patient-specific responses, and cost-effectiveness have not yet been fully established. Ongoing and future trials are highlighted as essential for clarifying survodutide's clinical role. As a review article, this paper does not generate new primary data, and its conclusions are bounded by the early-stage evidence available at the time of writing.

Why this grade: This is a narrative review article synthesizing early-phase clinical trial data and pharmacological literature; it does not present original primary human or animal study data.