In a direct head-to-head clinical trial, Eli Lilly's experimental medication retatrutide outperformed Novo Nordisk's Ozempic in reducing blood sugar levels and helping patients lose weight, the pharmaceutical company announced on Oct. 28. The 80-week trial evaluated adults living with Type 2 diabetes.
During the trial, participants using retatrutide lowered their blood sugar at a faster rate and shed more than double the weight compared to those taking Ozempic. Lilly tested 9 mg and 12 mg doses of retatrutide against a 2 mg dose of Ozempic, which represents the maximum approved dosage for Type 2 diabetes treatment.
Results from the study revealed that patients taking retatrutide saw an average A1C reduction—a key metric for measuring blood sugar—of 2.2%, compared to a 1.8% average reduction for patients on Ozempic. Weight loss outcomes also favored retatrutide, with participants averaging a loss of 44.3 pounds on the 9 mg dose and 47.4 pounds on the 12 mg dose. By contrast, participants administered the lower-dose version of Ozempic lost an average of 20.9 pounds.
In response to the study findings, Novo Nordisk spokesperson Liz Skrbkova cautioned against assessing Ozempic purely through the lens of weight reduction. She noted that the highest doses of Ozempic extend beyond glycemic control and effective weight loss, highlighting that extensive clinical evidence proves its protection for the heart, kidneys, and liver in individuals with Type 2 diabetes. Skrbkova added that the drug maintains an established safety and tolerability profile and has been used by over 28 million people globally.
Eli Lilly, which already manufactures the weight-loss drug Zepbound and the Type 2 diabetes treatment Mounjaro, previously stated that it plans to seek approval for retatrutide from the Food and Drug Administration before the end of March 2027.
Standard GLP-1 treatments like Ozempic and Wegovy work by mimicking glucagon-like peptide-1, a gut hormone responsible for regulating metabolism. Retatrutide functions as a triple receptor agonist, targeting three distinct gut hormones: GIP, GLP-1, and glucagon.
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