Eli Lilly announced Thursday that its new weight-loss drug, retatrutide, helped participants in a late-stage clinical trial lose significantly more weight than other obesity drugs currently on the market. The once-weekly triple hormone receptor agonist led to an average weight loss of 28 percent over 80 weeks.
Participants receiving a 12mg dose saw an average weight loss of 70.3 pounds, with some losing up to 30 percent of their body weight, or approximately 85 pounds. Nearly half of the patients who received a high dose of the treatment achieved at least 30 percent weight loss.
These results, which are equivalent to the weight loss associated with bariatric surgery, indicate that retatrutide could be the company's most potent weight-loss medicine yet. As the drug works differently from existing injections and pills, these findings bring Eli Lilly one step closer to filing for approval of the injection.