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News
Two investigational incretin-based therapies — retatrutide and survodutide — showed significant weight loss and glycemic improvements in patients with type 2 diabetes and obesity at EASD 2026. Retatrutide (Eli Lilly's triple GIP/GLP-1/glucagon agonist) achieved up to ~19% body weight reduction at 80 weeks, while survodutide (Boehringer Ingelheim's dual GLP-1/glucagon agonist) delivered up to 13.1% weight loss at 76 weeks. Both drugs outperformed placebo, though tolerability and generalizability questions remain.
Two next-generation incretin-based therapies are reshaping the treatment landscape for obesity in type 2 diabetes (T2D) — a population historically harder to treat than those without diabetes. Data from the phase 3 TRIUMPH-2 and SYNCHRONIZE-2 trials, presented at the EASD 2026 Annual Meeting and simultaneously published in The Lancet and NEJM, respectively, show both agents delivering meaningful weight loss and glycemic control well beyond what older GLP-1 drugs have achieved in this population.
Retatrutide (Eli Lilly), a triple agonist targeting GIP, GLP-1, and glucagon receptors, achieved mean body weight reductions of ~19% at 80 weeks with the highest doses (9 mg and 12 mg), versus ~4% with placebo. Survodutide (Boehringer Ingelheim), a dual GLP-1/glucagon agonist, produced 13.1% weight loss at 76 weeks with its 6 mg dose versus 3.1% with placebo. Both drugs also improved HbA1c, waist circumference, blood pressure, lipids, and inflammatory markers. Eli Lilly plans to submit retatrutide to the FDA for approval in early 2027.
Key Takeaways:
Why it matters: People with T2D have long achieved less weight loss than those without diabetes, even with the best available therapies. These results suggest the next wave of incretin-based drugs may finally close that gap — potentially enabling bariatric surgery-level outcomes through pharmacotherapy alone.
