Eli Lilly (NYSE:LLY) shares gained around 2% in premarket trading on Thursday after the company released positive late-stage clinical trial results for its experimental obesity treatment retatrutide.
The study showed that patients diagnosed with obesity lost an average of 28.3% of their body weight over an 80-week period when treated with the highest 12-milligram dose of retatrutide.
More than 45% of participants achieved weight loss of at least 30% during the trial.
The results strengthen Eli Lilly’s path toward seeking regulatory approval for the drug, with a potential commercial launch possible next year.
The study focused on patients with obesity who did not have diabetes.
Retatrutide is the first obesity treatment developed by Lilly that targets three separate hormone receptors simultaneously: GLP-1, which helps suppress appetite; GIP, which supports insulin secretion; and glucagon, which assists with fat burning.
Earlier clinical studies suggested the drug could deliver greater weight reduction than Lilly’s injectable obesity medication Zepbound as well as Novo Nordisk’s (NYSE:NVO) Wegovy.
The late-stage trial enrolled adults living with obesity or individuals classified as overweight who also had at least one weight-related health condition.
Kenneth Custer, president of cardiometabolic health at Eli Lilly, said the 30% weight-loss benchmark “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 latest results mark another significant step in Eli Lilly’s efforts to strengthen its position within the rapidly expanding obesity drug market.