{"id":725591,"date":"2026-06-09T17:18:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-09T17:18:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/725591\/"},"modified":"2026-06-09T17:18:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T17:18:12","slug":"an-experimental-weight-loss-drug-is-so-effective-many-americans-dont-care-its-not-fda-approved","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/725591\/","title":{"rendered":"An experimental weight loss drug is so effective, many Americans don\u2019t care it\u2019s not FDA approved"},"content":{"rendered":"

The latest weight loss craze is already here: retatrutide. Despite still being in the testing phase and not FDA approved or legal to sell<\/a>, many Americans are willing to shell out big bucks to get their hands on<\/a> the next generation of GLP-1 from Eli Lilly.<\/p>\n

The drugmaker just released its latest data from its phase 3 trials of retatrutide and it\u2019s showing encouraging results<\/a>. The study showed an average weight loss of roughly 19% for those taking the lower, 4 mg dose. That is comparable to results achieved by taking the highest dose of Lilly\u2019s other blockbuster weight loss drug, Zepbound.<\/p>\n

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The promising results have more and more people vying for the experimental drug, even if it has not yet been deemed safe and effective by the FDA. And a recent CBS News investigation found that it\u2019s not just questionable online pharmacies doling out doses, it\u2019s also legitimate health clinics nationwide<\/a>.<\/p>\n

What makes retatrutide different from semaglutide and tirzepatide?<\/p>\n

Retatrutide is a glucagon-like peptide-1, or GLP-1 receptor agonist, that \u2013 like the other popular weight loss drugs \u2013 is also meant to treat diabetes. However, it\u2019s considered a \u201ctriple threat\u201d because it is not solely a GLP-1.<\/p>\n

GLP-1 receptor agonists work by mimicking the body\u2019s natural GLP-1 hormone, which regulates appetite and food intake<\/a> by targeting specific receptors in the brain, according to Willow, an online company that sells GLP-1s.<\/p>\n

Semaglutide, known best by the brand names Wegovy and Ozempic, is solely a GLP-1.<\/p>\n

Then there\u2019s tirzepatide, sold as Zepbound and Mounjaro, which mimics not only GLP-1 but also glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide<\/a>, or GIP. GIP amplifies the ability of GLP-1\u2019s to suppress appetite and boost metabolic calorie burning.<\/p>\n

But Retatrutide takes it a step further, adding glucagon. Glucagon is a hormone naturally produced by the pancreas that signals the liver to break down and burn stored fats.<\/p>\n

Retatrutide producing \u2018staggering\u2019 results<\/p>\n

The phase 3 trial of retatrutide studied more than 2,300 people with inadequately controlled type 2 diabetes over the course of 104 weeks. They were given either a 4 mg, 9 mg, or 12 mg dose or a placebo.<\/p>\n

The study found that those taking the highest dose lost an average of about 30% of their body weight<\/a>, or about 85 lbs. Those on the lowest 4 mg dose also saw impressive results, losing an average of 19% of their weight.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is quite staggering,\u201d Harpreet Singh Bajaj, MD, one of the study\u2019s authors, said. \u201cThis magnitude of weight reduction in people with T2D [type 2 diabetes] has not been seen with any medications in a phase 3 study before.\u201d<\/p>\n

Comparatively, Wegovy has been found to help people lose an average of 10% of their body weight in a year and Zepbound 15%.<\/p>\n

Raising the red flag<\/p>\n

While retatrutide is yielding promising results, clinicians are sounding the alarm over its potential side effects, especially since it is unregulated.<\/p>\n

GLP-1s don\u2019t just burn fat to cause weight loss, they burn muscle mass as well. That\u2019s because the metabolic process requires amino acids, which are the building blocks of proteins. If a person is not consuming enough protein to replenish their amino acids \u2013 which many who are on these weight loss drugs aren\u2019t \u2013 the body will start recycling muscle to make up for it.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnything that is going to produce robust weight loss, there\u2019s going to be a percentage of that that\u2019s muscle,\u201d Caroline Apovian, an obesity medicine specialist at Harvard Medical School and at Brigham and Women\u2019s Hospital in Boston, told Scientific American<\/a>.<\/p>\n

People taking GLP-1s have been found to have lost 25% to 40% of lean mass<\/a>, including muscle mass. Bone mass loss has also been a notable side effect.<\/p>\n

Losing so much weight so quickly also carries the risk of malnutrition and gallstones.<\/p>\n

And since retatrutide is not legally on the market, it\u2019s risky to seek it out, since you can\u2019t be sure it\u2019s legitimate<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat those companies are selling is completely unknown. It could be a different peptide entirely, a mislabeled or counterfeit product, a product with the wrong concentration or contaminants, or something with no active ingredient at all. Every one of those scenarios carries a real risk of serious harm,\u201d Rozalina McCoy, MD, vice chief of clinical research in the Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Nutrition, at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, told Verywell Health.<\/p>\n

Round out your reading<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The latest weight loss craze is already here: retatrutide. Despite still being in the testing phase and not…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":725592,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[49,48,84,377],"class_list":["post-725591","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-medication","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-health","tag-medication"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/725591","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=725591"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/725591\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/725592"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=725591"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=725591"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=725591"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}