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| Other names | LY-3437943 |
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Retatrutide (LY-3437943) is an experimental drug for obesity developed by the American pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly and Company. It is a triple glucagon hormone receptor agonist (GLP-1, GIP, and GCGR receptors).[1][2][3] It has been shown to achieve a more than 17.5% mean weight reduction in adults without diabetes but with obesity or preobesity (overweight) during a phase 2 trial.[4][5][6] In the trial, the participants who received the highest dose (12 mg) showed a mean weight reduction of 24.2% after 48 weeks.[6] Retatrutide is currently in phase 3 clinical trials, one of many GLP-1 receptor agonists in development.[7] In a 2025 fat-mass substudy of adults with type 2 diabetes, Retatrutide achieved statistically significantly greater total body fat mass reduction at 36 weeks than both placebo and dulaglutide.[8]
Chemistry
Retatrutide is a peptide with the following amino acid sequence[9]
YA¹QGTFTSDYSIL²LDKK⁴AQA¹AFIEYLLEGGPSSGAPPPS³
where letters with superscripted numbers refer to the following chemical modifications:
- "A¹" refers to 2-aminoisobutyric acid (Aib).
- "L²" refers to leucine modified with an α-methyl substituent (MeL, 2-methylleucine).
- "S³" refers to L-serinamide (L-serine with the carboxylic acid group replaced with a carboxamide).
- "K⁴" refers to L-lysine with the amino group at position 6 modified with a side chain; specifically, (AEEA)-(γ-Glu)-(C20 diacid) (where AEEA is 2-[2-(2-aminoethoxy)ethoxy]acetic acid, commonly used as a spacer group in synthetic peptides).
References
- ↑ Coskun T, Urva S, Roell WC, et al. (September 2022). "LY3437943, a novel triple glucagon, GIP, and GLP-1 receptor agonist for glycemic control and weight loss: From discovery to clinical proof of concept". Cell Metabolism. 34 (9): 1234–1247.e9. doi:10.1016/j.cmet.2022.07.013. PMID 35985340. S2CID 251675508.
- ↑ Bhat S, Fernandez CJ, Lakshmi V, Pappachan JM. Efficacy and safety of incretin co-agonists: Transformative advances in cardiometabolic healthcare. World J Cardiol. 2025 Aug 26;17(8):107991. doi:10.4330/wjc.v17.i8.107991
{{doi}}: unflagged free DOI (link) PMID 40949933 - ↑ Concepción-Zavaleta MJ, Fuentes-Mendoza JM, Gonzáles-Yovera JG, Ruvalcaba-Barbosa GY, Cura-Rodríguez LD, González-Rodríguez JS, Concepción-Urteaga LA, Pérez-Reyes AI, Quiroz-Aldave JE, Paz-Ibarra J. Efficacy and safety of anti-obesity drugs in metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease: An updated review. World J Gastroenterol. 2025 Oct 7;31(37):111435. doi:10.3748/wjg.v31.i37.111435
{{doi}}: unflagged free DOI (link) PMID 41025003 - ↑ "Lilly's phase 2 retatrutide results published in The New England Journal of Medicine show the investigational molecule achieved up to 17.5% mean weight reduction at 24 weeks in adults with obesity and overweight". investor.lilly.com (Press release). Eli Lilly. 26 June 2023. Retrieved 3 July 2023.
- ↑ Constantino, Annika Kim (26 June 2023). "Eli Lilly experimental obesity drug could beat rivals in total weight loss for patients". CNBC.com. Retrieved 3 July 2023.
- 1 2 Jastreboff AM, Kaplan LM, Frías JP, et al. (June 2023). "Triple-Hormone-Receptor Agonist Retatrutide for Obesity - A Phase 2 Trial". The New England Journal of Medicine. 389 (6): 514–526. doi:10.1056/NEJMoa2301972. PMID 37366315. S2CID 259260926. Free access subject to registration.
- ↑ "A Study of Retatrutide (LY3437943) in Participants With Obesity and Cardiovascular Disease (TRIUMPH-3) - Lilly Clinical Trials". Lilly Trials. Retrieved 2025-08-24.
- ↑ Coskun, Tamer; Wu, Qiwei; Schloot, Nanette C.; Haupt, Axel; Milicevic, Zvonko; Khouli, Courtney; Harris, Charles (August 2025). "Effects of retatrutide on body composition in people with type 2 diabetes: a substudy of a phase 2, double-blind, parallel-group, placebo-controlled, randomised trial". The Lancet. Diabetes & Endocrinology. 13 (8): 674–684. doi:10.1016/S2213-8587(25)00092-0. ISSN 2213-8595. PMID 40609566.
- ↑ "Compound Report Card". ebi.ac.uk. European Bioinformatics Institute, European Molecular Biology Laboratory. n.d. Retrieved August 5, 2024.