Diabetes patients taking an investigational drug from Eli Lilly saw significant reductions in their blood sugar and weight in a late-stage study, a notable result given that people with diabetes usually don’t lose as much weight on treatments as those who don’t have the condition.
After 40 weeks, patients on the highest dose of the drug, an injectable called retatrutide, saw a 1.9 percentage point reduction on a measure of blood sugar called HbA1C, while those on placebo saw a 0.8 point reduction. Those results include all patients, including those who discontinued. The efficacy is similar to Lilly’s popular diabetes drug Mounjaro.
Participants on the highest dose lost 15.3% of their weight, while the placebo group lost 2.6%. The weight loss had not yet plateaued at the end of the study, said Kenneth Custer, president of Lilly’s cardiometabolic health unit. It may be the highest amount of weight loss seen in a diabetes drug trial, if not the highest.
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