DataDave said:

SURMOUNT-1 landed around 20.9% mean weight loss at 15mg over 72 weeks, against roughly 15% for semaglutide 2.4mg in STEP 1.

I read this differently from DataDave, on substance rather than tone. The "tirzepatide is simply better" summary irritates me. It is better on mean weight loss, and the cardiovascular outcome evidence is far thinner than semaglutide's. If the reason for treating is cardiovascular risk rather than weight, the evidence base points the other way.

Adding the numbers, since they settle part of this. For anyone reading later: the numbers in this thread are worth checking against a primary source before you act on them, including mine. Half the figures circulating in this community trace back to a secondary summary that dropped a qualifier.

mike.trainer_LA said:

The "tirzepatide is simply better" summary irritates me.

Adding the part of the answer the thread has not reached. It is worth asking what the claim would look like if it were false. If nothing would look different, it is not a claim about the world and no amount of discussion will settle it.

Following on from james_edin — and this may be the naive question:

Whether anyone has held 10mg long term rather than climbing, and what happened over the following year?

Closing the loop on my own question.

Update: the eight-week restart pattern people described is exactly what happened. I nearly abandoned it at week five.