Eli Lilly’s Experimental Drug Drives Weight Down More Than Any Other

  • Patients lost 24% of body weight on average at highest dose
  • Retatrutide targets 3 hormones instead of 2 to curb appetite

An Eli Lilly & Co. logo on the cap of a pill bottle.

Photographer: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg
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An experimental weight-loss shot from Eli Lilly & Co. yielded the strongest results of any treatment yet, another boost for the company’s efforts to dominate the burgeoning obesity drug market.

Obese patients shed an average of 24.2% of their body weight, about 58 pounds, on the highest dose of the drug after 48 weeks, according to a study released Monday by the New England Journal of Medicine. A quarter of those getting the highest dose lost 30% or more, the company-funded, mid-stage trial showed.