Key insights
- Eli Lilly shares rose after positive trial results for retatrutide, an obesity drug showing significant weight loss in patients. This strengthens Lilly's position in the competitive obesity medication market, potentially impacting sector dynamics and investor sentiment towards pharmaceutical companies focused on weight management solutions. The drug's efficacy exceeding existing treatments like Zepbound and Wegovy is a bullish signal for LLY.
Investing.com -- Eli Lilly (NYSE:LLY) shares rose about 2% in premarket trading Thursday after the company reported positive results from a late-stage trial of its experimental obesity drug retatrutide.
The trial showed patients diagnosed with obesity lost an average of 28.3% of their weight over 80 weeks when taking the highest 12-milligram dose of retatrutide. More than 45% of participants lost 30% or more of their body weight.
The results help pave the way for Eli Lilly to seek regulatory approval and potentially launch the drug next year. The trial tracked weight loss in patients diagnosed with obesity but not diabetes.
Retatrutide is the first of Lilly’s obesity drugs that activates three hormone receptors: GLP-1 to suppress appetite, GIP to enhance insulin secretion, and glucagon to aid fat burning. Previous trials have shown it boosts weight loss beyond Lilly’s injectable Zepbound and Novo Nordisk’s (CSE:NOVO B) Wegovy.
The late-stage trial enrolled adults with obesity or who were overweight with at least one weight-related comorbidity.
Kenneth Custer, Eli Lilly’s president of cardiometabolic health, commented that the 30% weight loss threshold "is really a threshold that’s historically been associated with bariatric surgery. To have that available in a medicine is a pretty big deal."
The development marks the latest step in Lilly’s push to compete in the growing market for obesity medications.
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