STAT+: Lilly says ‘triple-G’ drug beats Novo’s Ozempic in diabetes study

Elaine’s stories explore the boom in new obesity treatments, new drug payment models, the ways companies are affected by FDA changes, and the emerging psychedelics drug sector. She co-writes The Readout newsletter, and co-hosts STAT’s weekly biotech podcast, The Readout Loud. You can reach Elaine on Signal at elaineywchen.70.

Eli Lilly on Wednesday said that its investigational drug was more effective at lowering blood sugar and cutting weight than Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic in a large diabetes study, further boosting the competitive profile of its medicine.

In the head-to-head study, people on the highest dose of Lilly’s drug, called retatrutide, saw a 2.2 percentage-point reduction in a measure of blood sugar called A1c after 80 weeks, while those on Ozempic saw a 1.8 percentage-point reduction.

Those on the highest dose of retatrutide also lost 20.9% of their weight, a highly significant amount considering that people with diabetes don’t tend to lose much weight on drugs. Meanwhile, those taking Ozempic lost 9.4% of their weight. These results are based on analyses looking only at the participants who stayed on treatment, not all participants.