THE ARISING · Longevity & Healthspan
Lilly's Triple-Hormone Drug Retatrutide Beat Ozempic on Blood Sugar and Weight at Its Top Dose
An experimental drug that acts on three hormone signals produced average weight loss of 20% to 21% in a head-to-head diabetes trial. Ozempic produced 9%. The drug, retatrutide, also led to more people stopping treatment because of side effects.
According to BioPharma Dive, Eli Lilly announced the Phase 3 results on Wednesday. The trial compared retatrutide with Novo Nordisk's Ozempic over 80 weeks. The article does not say how many people took part.
On blood sugar, the 12 milligram weekly dose of retatrutide lowered the measure by an average of 2.2 percentage points. Ozempic lowered it by 1.8, and Lilly called the 12 mg result significantly better. The 9 mg dose also lowered blood sugar by 2.2 points. But Lilly described its difference from Ozempic as statistically "nominal."
The weight gap was larger. Average weight loss was 21% on the 12 mg dose and 20% on the 9 mg dose.
The tradeoff showed up in people who quit. In the trial, 3% of Ozempic recipients stopped treatment because of side effects. That compared with 5% on the 9 mg dose of retatrutide and 8% on the 12 mg dose. BioPharma Dive reports that the top dose was also linked to higher side effect rates overall. The article does not detail which side effects occurred.
For people with diabetes, the open question is whether greater benefit is worth a higher chance of stopping. These data do not answer that. Ozempic acts on one hormone pathway. Lilly's Zepbound and Mounjaro act on two. Retatrutide adds a third, called glucagon. The evidence has limits. These are company-reported results, and the article does not describe a full publication. The drug is not approved. Earlier this week the paper reported real-world data on a different drug, tirzepatide, compared with semaglutide in England. That report added observational findings on a different drug, while this one is a company-reported trial of retatrutide.
BioPharma Dive also notes that strong interest has pushed many people toward a "black market" for retatrutide. Leerink analyst David Risinger forecasts $15 billion in annual sales by 2032. That is a projection, not a finding.
Whether Lilly publishes the full data, including participant numbers and side effect details, and whether regulators approve retatrutide.