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Eli Lilly Diabetes Drug Spurs Record Weight Loss in Trials
Newser • • business
Key Points:
- Eli Lilly's experimental drug retatrutide helped people with Type 2 diabetes lose up to 60 pounds (23% of body weight) over 80 weeks, with more than half reducing their BMI below the obesity threshold and 40% achieving diabetes remission.
- In a separate trial involving obese individuals without diabetes, some participants lost up to 70 pounds after 80 weeks, and a severely obese subgroup lost as much as 85 pounds over two years, comparable to results from bariatric surgery.
- Retatrutide is a "triple agonist" drug that mimics three hormones and is not yet FDA-approved; Lilly plans to seek authorization next year despite unapproved copies already circulating online and in spas.
- These trial results represent the most significant weight loss ever recorded in a medication trial, highlighting retatrutide's potential as a groundbreaking obesity treatment.
