Eli Lilly on Thursday announced results from a phase 3 trial of its drug retatrutide that show it helped participants lose 30% of their weight over the course of two years. Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo
May 21 (UPI) -- Eli Lilly said its weight loss drug, retatrutide, helped nearly half of participants in a phase 3 trial to lose more than 30% of their weight.
Many of the people who lost that much weight were on the highest dose of retatrutide for up to two years, but the company said that the weekly injection was effective for weight loss across all doses of the drug.
Retatrutide affects three hormones -- GLP-1 and GIP, each of which are targeted by similar weight loss drugs, and glucagon, which none of them targets -- and could be best for people looking to lose larger amounts of weight, said the company's chief scientific and product officer, Dan Skovronsky.
"We haven't seen that level of weight loss before with these kinds of medicines," Skovronsky said, referring to a group of drugs that includes Eli Lilly's Zepbound.
