'World's most powerful weight loss drug' tested against Mounjaro and the results are staggering
Mounjaro is the strongest legally available weight loss drug available on the market at the moment, but there's a new version which appears to be even more powerful.
Weight loss drugs have proven to be remarkably successful over the past few years and you can even get them prescribed on the NHS if you meet the criteria.
If you get a prescription then you'll either get Novo Nordisk's Wegovy or Eli Lilly's Mounjaro, and the drugs have slightly different impacts in the way they affect your body so your prescription would be tailored to your needs.
Wegovy is what's known as a 'single agonist', it works by targeting and mimicking the GLP-1 hormone receptor in your body to suppress your appetite and make you want to eat less, while Mounjaro is a 'dual agonist' which targets both GLP-1 and GIP to slow down food digestion and improves how your body processes sugar.
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Another drug in development is Retatrutide, which is a 'triple agonist' that targets GLP-1, GIP and glucagon to help burn more calories in the body alongside the impacts the other weight loss drugs have.
Retatrutide vs Mounjaro
Both weight loss drugs are made by Eli Lilly, but Retatrutide is still going through trials so it's not possible to get it legally unless you're part of one of those.
There's a reason why it's being developed, as data from the trials indicates it's even more effective at triggering weight loss than Mounjaro.
While people taking Mounjaro shed an average of 26.6 percent of their body weight over 84 weeks, an 80 week period with Retatrutide indicates that weight loss climbs to 28.3 percent.
According to Treated, phase three trials for Retatrutide indicate that taking it for up to 104 weeks has resulted in as much as 30 percent body weight loss from taking this one among participants who are significantly obese.
Both of them require a weekly injection to work and since they're pressing the same buttons in your body they also have lots of overlap as far as side effects are concerned, though Retatrutide appears to have a couple more.
The side effects
The usual set of side effects you could expect from Mounjaro are also present in Retatrutide users, with nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea and constipation part of the list if you were on either of them.
Retatrutide side effects have been showing up in trials at higher rates than reported by Mounjaro users among those taking the top dose
Around 43 percent of users reported nausea on the trialled drug compared to 31 percent saying they get it from Mounjaro, while 20 percent of Retatrutide users said they were vomiting lined up against 12 percent of those on Mounjaro.
However, since Retatrutide is going after glucagon as well it appears to have an impact on your heart rate and skin sensitivity as well.
While taking the top dose of Mounjaro was found to lead to a heart rate increase of 5.4bpm that's considered a mild rise, whereas Retatrutide produced a 'noticeable' increase of 6.7bpm
Meanwhile, a feeling of tingling skin was not flagged as a Mounjaro side effect, but around 21 percent of those going through Retatrutide trials were saying they noticed the sensation.
Retatrutide might be the stronger weight loss drug but it also appears to produce some stronger side effects as well, though the full picture won't be there until the trials have been completed and it's available to the public.
Joe Harker