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Efficacy and safety of triple hormone receptor agonist retatrutide for the management of obesity: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Expert Rev Clin Pharmacol · 2025
Last updated 2026-05-28A review of four clinical trials found that retatrutide, a new obesity drug, reduced obesity measures more than a placebo, with the highest dose (12 mg) showing the greatest effects. The drug’s side effects were similar to those seen in the placebo group.
AI summary of the abstract below.
| Journal | Expert Rev Clin Pharmacol, 2025 |
|---|---|
| Citations | 7 |
| Relative citation ratio | 2.54 |
| Molecules | retatrutide |
| Conditions studied | Obesity |
Abstract
INTRODUCTION: Retatrutide is a novel triple hormone receptor agonist which has shown great promise in tackling obesity in preliminary trials. We did this systematic review and meta-analysis to pool the results of all available trials and ascertain its safety and efficacy in the treatment of obesity.
MATERIAL AND METHODS: A literature search was conducted in PubMed, Cochrane Central and Embase using appropriate search terms and randomized control trials (RCTs) were identified which reported the safety and efficacy of retatrutide. Data was pooled using mean differences for continuous variables and risk ratios for the safety profile in RStudio.
RESULTS: After the initial search four RCTs were included in the analysis which compared the safety and efficacy of retatrutide versus placebo. Retatrutide showed a dose dependent relationship with the 12 mg dose causing the maximum reductions across all the outcomes considered. The safety profile of retatrutide was found to be comparable to the control group.
CONCLUSION: In conclusion our analysis found retatrutide to be clinically and statistically better than placebo in the various studies outcomes. We eagerly await the conduction of further trials for more robust and substantial results.
PROTOCOL REGISTRATION: www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero identifier is CRD42024566153.
Verbatim abstract via PubMed 39817343 ↗
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