KEY DETAILS
CNBC reports that Eli Lilly's US volume rose 41% in the third quarter, partly offset by a 7% drop in realized prices.
KABC-TV reports that Eli Lilly plans to submit retatrutide to the FDA for approval in early 2027.
Per the New York Post, retatrutide cut breathing interruptions more than placebo in two phase 3 sleep apnea trials of 691 adults.
The New York Post reports that discontinuation was 7.9% on retatrutide 12 mg versus 2.7% on Ozempic in the head-to-head trial.
Investor's Business Daily reports Lilly said retatrutide lowered A1C by an average 2.2 percentage points over 80 weeks in patients with type 2 diabetes.
CNBC reports that Eli Lilly on Thursday raised its 2026 revenue forecast to between $91 billion and $92 billion, up from $85 billion to $87 billion, on demand for Zepbound and Mounjaro. That is only one part of the story. According to the New York Post, Lilly's experimental drug retatrutide helped patients with type 2 diabetes lose more than twice as much weight as Ozempic's highest approved dose in a head-to-head trial.
According to CNBC, Lilly said the 7% decrease in realized prices was primarily driven by Zepbound, and the volume increase came mainly from Mounjaro and Zepbound. Here is the bottom line for the U.S. business. CNBC reports that Lilly's revenue in the U.S. climbed 34% to $15.1 billion in the quarter. From sales, the subject now changes to research.
Some background helps with this one. KABC-TV describes retatrutide as a once-weekly injection that mimics three hormones: GLP-1, GIP and glucagon. According to KABC-TV, other weight loss drugs currently on the market mimic just one or two hunger-regulating hormones. KABC-TV also reports, citing the FDA, that any version consumers have seen online comes from the black market and should not be consumed. The next report turns to a different health condition.
The New York Post reports that the research, published in The New England Journal of Medicine, included adults with moderate-to-severe sleep apnea and a BMI of at least 27, who received weekly retatrutide at 4, 9 or 12 milligrams or a placebo and were followed for 80 weeks. According to the New York Post, about 68% of participants had more than a 50% improvement in sleep apnea symptoms, whether or not they had type 2 diabetes. This next part is easy to miss. The New York Post reports that the researchers named retatrutide's lack of FDA approval as a limitation and said further studies are needed on long-term cardiovascular outcomes. The next report comes from the same outlet.
According to the New York Post, the trial compared 9 milligram and 12 milligram weekly doses of retatrutide with Ozempic at 2 milligrams in nearly 1,300 adults with type 2 diabetes. The New York Post reports that after 80 weeks, A1C fell by an average of 2.2 percentage points on either retatrutide dose, compared with 1.8 points on Ozempic. According to the New York Post, people on the 9 milligram dose lost an average of 19.5% of their body weight and those on 12 milligrams lost 20.9%, compared with 9.4% on Ozempic. The New York Post also reports that discontinuation on the 9 milligram dose was 4.8%. The last report is a short one.
Investor's Business Daily reports that Lilly shared the result on Wednesday from a head-to-head study against Novo Nordisk's Ozempic. Here is the market angle. According to Investor's Business Daily, Novo stock skidded in response.
Each of these stories has more detail than fits here. The full reports are at CNBC (https://www.cnbc.com/2026/10/29/eli-lilly-lly-earnings-q3-2026.html), KABC-TV (https://abc7.com/story/new-weightloss-drug-retatrutide-provides-double-weight-loss-ozempic-lilly-says/19990480/), the New York Post (https://nypost.com/2026/10/28/health/experimental-weight-loss-drug-found-to-help-ease-sleep-disorders/ and https://nypost.com/2026/10/28/health/retatrutide-delivers-double-the-weight-loss-as-ozempic-study/) and Investor's Business Daily (https://www.investors.com/news/technology/eli-lilly-retatrutide-novo-ozempic-head-to-head-study/).
Originally published on GLP-1 Nation.
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