Lilly's retatrutide beats Ozempic on weight loss and blood sugar in head-to-head Phase 3 diabetes trial

Lilly reported topline Phase 3 results from TRANSCEND-T2D-2, an open-label head-to-head study of its investigational once-weekly triple agonist retatrutide against Novo Nordisk's Ozempic 2 mg in 1,298 adults with type 2 diabetes. Retatrutide met its primary goal and all key secondary goals at 80 weeks. Weight loss was roughly 19.5% at the 9 mg dose and about 20.9% at the 12 mg dose, compared with about 9.4% on Ozempic, and A1C fell further on retatrutide. The readout adds to the retatrutide data package Lilly has been assembling ahead of planned regulatory filings, and it is the first head-to-head comparison against a semaglutide product in this program that the company has highlighted. Shares moved modestly higher after hours on the news, ahead of Lilly's scheduled third-quarter results.

1. Phase 3 TRANSCEND-T2D-2 enrolled 1,298 adults with type 2 diabetes not well controlled on metformin, with or without an SGLT2 inhibitor.
2. Trial was open-label, compared retatrutide with Ozempic 2 mg, and ran for 80 weeks.
3. Retatrutide met the primary endpoint and all key secondary endpoints, per Lilly's topline announcement.
4. Average weight loss was about 19.5% (9 mg) and 20.9% (12 mg) for retatrutide versus about 9.4% for Ozempic.
5. A1C fell by an average of 2.2% on both retatrutide doses versus 1.8% on Ozempic, from a starting level of 8.3%.
6. Lilly's cardiometabolic head Kenneth Custer said the data could shift the treatment paradigm for type 2 diabetes and obesity if approved.
7. Lilly's Q2 2026 call said it planned a US regulatory submission for retatrutide in obesity in Q1 2027.