STAT+: New data on Eli Lilly’s ‘triple-G’ drug leave open questions on heart benefit
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- Eli Lilly reported Phase 3 results Thursday showing that patients on the highest dose of retatrutide lost 22.6% of body weight after 80 weeks, compared with 3.2% for placebo, among participants who stayed on treatment.
- The retatrutide trial enrolled nearly 2,000 people with severe obesity and heart disease, with or without diabetes.
- On secondary cardiovascular endpoints measuring death, heart attack, or stroke, retatrutide patients did not achieve a statistically significant lower risk of major events than placebo.
- Lilly said the trial was not powered to study cardiovascular outcomes and noted that fewer heart events occurred than anticipated.
Why it matters: With a 22.6% weight-loss result among nearly 2,000 patients with heart disease, Lilly had positioned this trial to deliver both an efficacy and a cardiovascular signal. The missing statistical significance on secondary CV endpoints, combined with fewer heart events than expected, means whether retatrutide reduces cardiovascular risk remains unanswered by this study alone.
