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Nearly half of patients who got a high dose of Eli Lilly & Co.’s next-generation obesity shot lost the equivalent weight of bariatric surgery, further evidence that the treatment could be the company’s most potent weight-loss medicine yet.
In a late-stage trial, patients who could tolerate the highest dose of retatrutide for a year-and-a-half lost 28.3 percent of their body weight on average, Lilly said in a statement Thursday. Before the results, RBC Capital Markets analyst Trung Huynh said the bar for success would be weight loss of between 28 percent and 30 percent.
About 45 percent of participants who got the highest dose lost 30 percent of their body weight or more, a level typically associated with bariatric surgery. Patients who got the lowest dose lost an average of 19 percent of their body weight.
“We’re in a zone that’s historically been associated with bariatric surgery, and you’re getting it with a medicine,” Kenneth Custer, president of Lilly Cardiometabolic Health, said in an interview. “I think we can definitively check the box” based on the data that “retatrutide moves the goalpost on max efficacy,” he added.
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Lilly shares rose 1.6 percent in premarket trading. They’ve declined 5 percent so far this year as of Wednesday’s close.
New Potential
Lilly’s currently available shot, Zepbound, is already the most popular weight-loss medication, but the company is developing alternatives that are more effective, easier to take or offer benefits like fewer side effects.
The pharma giant is counting on retatrutide to maintain its lead over Novo Nordisk A/S in the highly competitive market for next-generation weight-loss drugs. Lilly sees it as an option for people with more severe obesity who may need a stronger treatment than Zepbound shot or Novo’s Wegovy. Retatrutide works by combining three different gut hormones — GLP-1, GIP and glucagon — giving it an edge over treatments like Zepbound and Novo’s Wegovy.
The results are the latest sign of the drug’s potential. In recent months, Lilly has revealed that retatrutide helped diabetic patients lose more weight than any drug currently on the market and reduced pain in patients with knee osteoarthritis.
Still, some patients experienced side effects, causing about 11 percent of participants on the highest dose to drop out of the trial. Common side effects included nausea, diarrhea and constipation.
About 12 percent of patients on the higher doses experienced dysesthesia, an uncomfortable or unpleasant nerve sensation, and about 8 percent had urinary tract infections. Lilly said those two side effects were generally mild to moderate and in most cases resolved during treatment without participants stopping the drug.
The trial reported Thursday was designed to measure weight loss in patients who have obesity or are overweight and have at least one related condition. The study measured how much weight participants lost compared to placebo at three doses ranging from 4 milligrams to 12 milligrams. All doses met the study’s primary goal of delivering clinically meaningful weight reduction.
By Madison Muller and Gerry Smith
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Learn more:
The GLP-1 Arms Race, Explained
The pharmaceutical boom in weight-loss drugs has put companies like Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly in ever-fiercer competition. Now more heavyweights, like Pfizer and Astrazeneca, are entering the ring. Who will come out on top?
