By Mackenzie Tatananni
As Wall Street keeps a close watch on Eli Lilly's portfolio of weight-loss drugs, the company reported positive results for a new candidate, which met all primary and key secondary endpoints in a new trial.
The pharmaceutical giant shared results Thursday from a Phase 3 study evaluating the efficacy of retatrutide, a so-called triple agonist that acts on three metabolic receptors, unlike previous generations of weight-loss drugs targeting fewer metabolic pathways. One of the hormones retatrutide mimics is glucagon-like peptide 1, which sits at the core of Lilly's own GLP-1 drugs Mounjaro and Zepbound.
The latest trial enrolled adults living with Type 2 diabetes for at least two and a half years, and specifically patients who were unable to regulate their blood sugar levels simply using diet and exercise. For the primary endpoint, patients taking retatrutide saw an average A1C reduction of up to 2%. For a key secondary endpoint, patients lost an average of up to 36.6 pounds, or 16.8% of their body weight.
Notably, no plateau was observed, meaning patients continued dropping weight through the end of the treatment period. Kenneth Custer, the executive vice president and president of Lilly Cardiometabolic Health, stressed that retatrutide was more than just a weight-loss drug.
"For many people with type 2 diabetes, it is a struggle to achieve both A1C control and weight loss, since obesity has historically been harder to treat for those with type 2 diabetes," Custer said. The latest trial results "support the remarkable potential of this novel molecule" for people with the disease, he added.
Shares barely reacted to the news, slipping 0.4% in premarket trading. Futures tracking the benchmark S&P 500 were down just as much.
Write to Mackenzie Tatananni at mackenzie.tatananni@barrons.com
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
March 19, 2026 08:50 ET (12:50 GMT)
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