
An experimental drug appears to outperform the trendy medications Wegovy and Ozempic for both weight loss and diabetes control, a pair of early clinical trials shows. Retatrutide helped people with obesity drop about one-quarter of their starting weight, on average, during 48 weeks taking the drug, according to phase 2 trial results published online June 26 in the New England Journal of Medicine. “What is clear is that 24% weight loss from a single drug has not been seen before,” said co-researcher Dr. Lee Kaplan, an associate professor with Harvard Medical School. “And the subjects in the trial were still losing weight at the end.” The best comparable results come from last year’s clinical trial results for the diabetes drug Mounjaro (tirzepatide), which after 72 weeks had produced an average weight loss of more than 22%, Kaplan said. Retatrutide also helped patients establish better control over their blood sugar levels, according to a second phase 2 trial published online June 26 in The Lancet. Retatrutide works by targeting three different gut hormones that are stimulated by food intake, explained Dr. Ania Jastreboff, director of the Yale Obesity Research Center, in New Haven, Conn. Jastreboff led the obesity trial and was a co-author for the diabetes management trial. The hormones include one targeted by Ozempic and two targeted by Mounjaro, Jastreboff and Kaplan said. “These are… read on > read on >