Bimagrumab: a different idea — lose fat, keep muscle
Bimagrumab is a lab-made antibody that helps the body lose fat while keeping muscle. It is still in testing, not approved, and you cannot get it in India or anywhere yet.
Most weight-loss medicines work by cutting your appetite. Bimagrumab is different. It does not touch appetite at all. Instead, it tells your body to burn fat and hold on to muscle. That sounds amazing. But it is still being tested. It is not approved, not sold, and not in India. Let me explain what it is, honestly.
What bimagrumab is, and how it works
Bimagrumab is a lab-made antibody. An antibody is a tiny Y-shaped protein your body uses to tag things. This one is made in a lab to stick to a switch on muscle and fat cells called the 'activin type II receptor'. When it blocks that switch, two things happen. Your fat cells release more fat. Your muscle cells are told to grow instead of shrink. So the body drops fat while keeping, even adding, muscle. That is the opposite worry people have with GLP-1 medicines like semaglutide, where some of the weight lost is muscle. Bimagrumab was first made by Novartis for weak-muscle illnesses. It did not work well enough there. In 2021 Novartis let a small company called Versanis Bio take it. In 2023, Eli Lilly bought Versanis for up to $1.93 billion to test it for obesity.
A medicine can make you lose fat and gain muscle at the same time, without exercise.
partly truePartly true, in trials only — explained simply. In two small studies, bimagrumab did cut fat and slightly grow muscle. In a 48-week study of 75 adults with type 2 diabetes and obesity, the bimagrumab group lost 7.49 kg of fat and gained 1.70 kg of lean mass, while the placebo group barely changed. So the effect is real in a trial setting. But 'without exercise' is not the full story — trials still tracked diet and health. And this drug is not approved, so this is not something you can use today. It is a hopeful idea, not a product you can buy.
Bimagrumab vs a GLP-1 (semaglutide) — the muscle angle
The honest current status (July 2026)
Here is the part you must read carefully. Bimagrumab is not approved for obesity anywhere in the world. It is still in phase 2 trials, which is early. Eli Lilly now owns it. In September 2025, Lilly withdrew one phase 2 trial that was testing bimagrumab with tirzepatide in people with obesity and type 2 diabetes. The reason listed was 'strategic business reasons'. No one was enrolled yet. A second trial, in people with obesity who do not have diabetes, was still running, with results expected around April 2026. The BELIEVE trial results (bimagrumab with semaglutide) were published in Nature Medicine in March 2026 and looked good. But good phase 2 results do not mean a drug is approved. Many drugs that look good in phase 2 never reach the pharmacy. So bimagrumab's future is uncertain. It may succeed. It may stall. It may be dropped. Right now, you cannot get it, and no doctor in India can prescribe it for obesity because it is not an approved medicine.
What this means for you right now
The bottom line
Bimagrumab is a clever idea: an antibody that tells your body to drop fat and keep muscle. Early trials show it can do both, and pairing it with a GLP-1 may work even better. But it is not approved, not sold, and not in India. One trial was withdrawn in 2025. Its future is uncertain. Do not look for it, do not buy it, and do not believe anyone selling it. If you want to lose fat while keeping muscle today, talk to your doctor about approved medicines, protein, and strength training.