Eli Lilly Diabetes Drug Spurs Record Weight Loss in Trials

A new entrant in the weight-loss drug race just posted eye-catching numbers. NBC News reports that Eli Lilly's experimental shot retatrutide helped people with Type 2 diabetes shed as much as 60 pounds—about 23% of their body weight—over 80 weeks, according to late-stage trial results in the Lancet. More than half of the roughly 1,100 participants saw their BMI fall below the obesity threshold, and average blood-sugar levels dropped enough that up to 40% of participants met the criteria for diabetes remission.

In a separate trial published in the New England Journal of Medicine of people without diabetes but with obesity or excess weight, some lost up to 70 pounds after 80 weeks, and a severely obese subgroup dropped as much as 85 pounds over two years—results comparable to bariatric surgery, and the most ever seen in a weight loss medication trial. Retatrutide, a "triple agonist" that mimics three hormones, isn't FDA-approved yet. Lilly aims to seek authorization next year, even as unapproved copycat versions are already circulating online and in spas.