An experimental new weight loss drug may be even more powerful than the GLP-1s currently on the market. Retatrutide, a highly anticipated new weight loss drug, passed a critical late-stage trial in patients with obesity, drug maker Eli Lilly announced Thursday. At its highest dose, retatrutide helped patients lose 28.3 percent of their weight — an average of 70.3 pounds — over 80 weeks. Over 45 percent of participants in the study lost more than 30 percent of their body weight, which is comparable to the amount lost with bariatric surgery.The highest dose also helped patients with a BMI of 35 or above who participated in an extension of the study lose over 30 percent of their weight over an average of 104 weeks, the drugmaker said. Drug maker Eli Lilly announced that retatrutide passed a critical late-stage trial in patients with obesity (Reuters)“It was impressive to see that every dose of retatrutide resulted in clinically meaningful weight reduction for nearly all participants, and people with severe obesity on the highest dose lost on average 30 percent of their body weight over two years,” said Dr. Ania Jastreboff, who led the study. “Importantly, treatment with retatrutide not only resulted in robust weight reduction, but also in clear improvements in assessed cardiometabolic health measures. For patients I see in clinic, retatrutide may potentially be a highly impactful future tool to treat their obesity and transform their health trajectory.” Lilly has not yet filed for Food and Drug Administration approval for retatrutide, but says it expects to as early as this year.