U.S. drugmaker Eli Lilly and Company said on the 21st (local time) that its next-generation obesity treatment delivered weight loss similar to metabolic bariatric surgery in a late-stage clinical trial.
Eli Lilly and Company released the 80-week phase 3 results for its obesity drug candidate "retatrutide" in a news release the same day. Doses were varied by patient at 4 mg, 9 mg, and 12 mg. As a result, patients given 12 mg lost an average of 28.3% of their body weight over 80 weeks.
Among patients who received 12 mg, 45.3% lost more than 30% of their body weight over the same period. Eli Lilly and Company said that is comparable to undergoing metabolic bariatric surgery. Metabolic bariatric surgery restricts stomach size or creates a bypass from the stomach to the small intestine. Because it involves altering the digestive tract, it is rarely performed and mainly for people with severe obesity.
The 9 mg and 4 mg groups also showed weight loss of 25.9% and 19.0%, respectively. However, some patients experienced side effects. Eleven percent of those given 12 mg discontinued treatment due to nausea, diarrhea, or constipation.
Retatrutide is injected once weekly and has a stronger weight-loss effect than Mounjaro. Retatrutide is a triple agonist that simultaneously modulates three hormone signals: glucagon-like peptide (GLP)-1, gastric inhibitory polypeptide (GIP), and glucagon. It aims to reduce appetite, enhance the feeling of fullness, and burn basal metabolic energy. Mounjaro is a dual agonist of GLP-1 and GIP.