The scientific database linking overweight and obese conditions to multiple health risks is large and robust. Finding long term weight loss solutions has been frustrating. At the KAHN CENTER, we believe it is the toxic food environment that is a major factor in obesity and teach a whole food, plant diet as a preventive and treatment path to optimal weight management.
The pharmaceutial industry has responded, not by changing the food environment, but by researching and introducing new drugs to suppress appetite and encourage weight loss. Two of these medications, semiglutide and tirzepatide, have been available for several years.
Now, a new drug, retitrutide, is nearing FDA approval. New results are stunning for its ability to result in major weight loss.
Eli Lilly and Company announced positive topline results from TRIUMPH-1, a Phase 3 clinical trial evaluating the efficacy and safety of retatrutide, an investigational, first-in-class GIP, GLP-1, and glucagon triple hormone receptor agonist, in adults with obesity or overweight and at least one weight-related comorbidity and without diabetes. At 80 weeks, all doses of retatrutide (4 mg, 9 mg, and 12 mg) met the primary and key secondary endpoints for obesity, delivering clinically meaningful weight loss.
For the primary endpoint, participants taking retatrutide 9 mg and 12 mg lost an average of 64 lbs (26%) and 70 lbs (28%), respectively.
Those taking the 4 mg dose of retatrutide, with just a single dose escalation step, lost an average of 47 lbs (19%).
Notably, 65.3% of participants taking retatrutide 12 mg achieved a BMI <30, falling under the threshold for obesity at 80 weeks, including 37.5% of those who started with class 3 obesity (BMI ≥40).
In a pre-specified blinded extension for those with a BMI ≥35, participants who continued on retatrutide 12 mg to 104 weeks lost an average of 85 lbs (30%).2
Additionally, retatrutide showed significant improvements from baseline across certain cardiovascular risk factors, including waist circumference, non-HDL cholesterol, triglycerides, systolic blood pressure and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP)
The types of adverse events seen were generally consistent with trials of other incretin-based therapies. The most common adverse events among participants treated with retatrutide (4 mg, 9 mg, 12 mg, vs. placebo, respectively) were nausea (29%, 38% and 42% vs. 15%), diarrhea (25%, 34% and 32% vs. 13%), constipation (24%, 26% and 26% vs. 101%), vomiting (11%, 23% and 25% vs. 5%), and upper respiratory tract infection (14%, 12% and 13% vs. 12%).
This new medication will likely get FDA approval and be available by prescription within the year. While it will be offered to patients at the KAHN CENTER who qualify, the need to address our toxic food environment, education on whole food, plant diets, and fitness and strength training will be addressed and stressed.
Addressing the root causes of the obesity epidemic in the Western world must take a central role in health care.
