A new slimming punch can help people lose a quarter of their body weight, making it the most effective yet.
Trials of the drug, dubbed the ‘Godzilla’ of appetite suppressant drugs, helped people lose an average of 24 percent of their body weight in less than a year.
Unlike other drugs, retatrutide not only suppresses appetite but also accelerates metabolism.
This helped it surpass hits from Wegovy, Ozempic and Mounjaro, which currently sell in the millions worldwide.
Trials show it helped people with obesity lose 4 pounds on average in just 48 weeks.
Trials with retatrutide, dubbed the ‘Godzilla’ of appetite suppressant drugs, helped people lose an average of 24 percent of their body weight in less than a year, outperforming vaccines such as Wegovy, Ozempic and Mounjaro, which They are currently sold worldwide in their millions.
The results were even clearer in women, helping them lose 28.5 percent of their body weight, compared to 21.2 percent in men.
Presenting their findings at the European Obesity Congress in Venice, Dr Ania Jastreboff, director of the Yale Obesity Research Center, said: ‘The results are surprising.
“In a phase two trial, this degree of weight loss has not been observed in this time period.”
Weight loss injections currently prescribed on the NHS and sold privately slow digestion and reduce appetite by mimicking hormones that regulate hunger and feelings of fullness.
They are designed to act like one of these hormones, known as glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1).
The two best-selling drugs are branded Wegovy or Ozempic and both contain the same key ingredient, semaglutide, in different doses.
Originally designed to combat type 2 diabetes, it was repurposed for obesity and trials showed that its stronger dosage form could help users lose 15 percent of their body weight in 68 weeks.
This was followed by Mounjaro, which in addition to mimicking GLP-1, also targeted a hormone called GIP to increase its effect on appetite suppression.
Trials showed it could help obese people lose 22.5 percent of their body weight in 72 weeks, at the highest dose of 15 mg.
While approved, phase 2 trials of retatrutide show that its impact on weight loss could be the largest yet.
In their study of 338 obese people, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, participants lost 24 percent of their body weight over a 48-week period.
Experts believe that giving the drug longer could help users lose up to 30 percent.
The most obese participants lost an even greater percentage of their body weight, 26.5 percent over 48 weeks. Unusually, 100 percent of trial participants lost at least 5 percent.
In addition to the hormones GLP-1 and GIP, retatrutide targets a third hormone known as glucagon, which causes the body to burn more fat when we move.’
Professor Alex Miras, an obesity expert at the University of Ulster, said: “It’s basically a Mounjaro but turbocharged.
‘What glucagon does is increase energy expenditure, that is, the amount of energy that is burned.
‘So there are two mechanisms; Decreasing food intake and increasing energy expenditure. Until now all medications have focused solely on reducing food intake.’
Like all previous GLP-1 drugs, retatrutide has caused side effects including nausea, diarrhea, and constipation.
Larger trials are currently underway and results will be delivered in 2026, when it could be approved for use in the NHS.
Professor Naveed Sattar, from the University of Glasgow, who has worked on trials of other weight loss injections, said: “Five or ten years ago we would never have imagined drugs that would cause this kind of weight loss.
‘The trial suggests that retatrutide has not yet stabilized, so further weight loss is likely to occur.
‘If we give this drug for longer, I think it could reach almost 30 percent of a person’s body weight.
“That’s a lot of weight. The question is whether this can be done safely and there are large trials planned to test it.”
Nadia Ahmad, associate vice president of obesity at Ely Lilly, said: “We are very excited about the level of weight loss that retatrutide has achieved by activating three receptors, which sets it apart from those currently on the market.”