On average, a 24.2% reduction in weight over 48 weeks! Lilly's new drug sets an amazing record.
By using this "most effective weight loss drug to date", Lilly has gained the upper hand in the fierce competition with rivals such as Novo Nordisk, Pfizer, and Astrazeneca.
Good news for weight loss enthusiasts!
A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine on Monday local time showed that after taking the highest dose of Lilly's experimental drug retatrutide for 48 weeks, obese patients lost an average of 24.2% of their body weight, or about 58 pounds, the highest weight loss ever seen in the field of obesity treatment.
"Quarterly data from Lilly-supported mid-term trials showed that more than a quarter of patients receiving the highest dose lost more than 30% of their weight, almost all patients taking retatutide lost at least 5% of their weight, and two-thirds of patients taking the lowest dose lost 15% or more of their weight," said Ania Jastreboff, the lead author of the study and director of the Yale Obesity Research Center.
"In a weight-loss drug trial lasting less than a year, we have not seen results like this before," Jastreboff said.
After the financial report was released, Lilly's stock price rose 1.14% in after-hours trading.
Michael Weintraub, an endocrinologist at the Langone Health Center at New York University, commented that the data suggests that Lilly's retatrutide is "the most effective weight-loss drug to date."
With the expected efficacy of the weight-loss drug, Lilly has become the world's most valuable pharmaceutical company, with competitors Novo Nordisk, Pfizer, AstraZeneca, and Amgen also competing in this crowded field. The global weight-loss drug market is expected to reach $150 billion by 2031.
In addition, Lilly's other weight-loss drug, Mounjaro, has been approved for the treatment of type 2 diabetes and has helped patients lose up to 21% of their weight in clinical trials, with patients taking the highest dose losing an average of 22.5% of their weight. Novo Nordisk's Wegovy showed a weight loss effect of up to 15% in trials.
Retatrutide is injected once a week and changes a patient's eating habits by mimicking certain hormones in the gut, leading to a decrease in appetite. Unlike Wegovy and Mounjaro, retatutide mimics three different hunger-regulating hormones: GLP-1, GIP, and insulin, which may have a greater impact on a person's appetite and satisfaction with food.