• Eli Lilly is developing a more potent weight-loss drug called retatrutide.
• In the first head-to-head trial versus Ozempic, retatrutide takers lost roughly twice as much weight.
• Retatrutide is not FDA-approved yet, but some peptide sellers are skirting the law.

Gym bros call it "reta." Eli Lilly is calling it the winner.

On Wednesday, the pharmaceutical giant announced the results of the first clinical trial pitting Ozempic against its newest, most powerful, and yet-to-be-approved next-generation injectable medication for obesity and diabetes: retatrutide.

Retatrutide won — and it wasn't even close. Type 2 diabetes patients on the highest dose of Ozempic (2 mg) lost an average of 21 pounds over a period of about a year and a half on the drug. Those on retatrutide lost an average of 44 pounds (9 mg) to 47 pounds (12 mg) during that same time. Patients also saw steeper reductions in their A1C, a key marker of blood sugar control (2.2% vs 1.8%).

"We believe retatrutide, if approved, could shift the treatment paradigm for people living with type 2 diabetes, obesity and related cardiometabolic conditions," Eli Lilly's Kenneth Custer, the president of Lilly Cardiometabolic, said in a release.

They're calling it 'King Kong'

Ozempic (from Novo Nordisk) was the very first medication of its kind — a novel peptide that mimics one gut hormone, called GLP-1.

Several years later, Mounjaro (from Eli Lilly) was approved, mimicking two hormones, GLP-1 and GIP, and delivering stronger results.

Insiders are calling Eli Lilly's retatrutide the "triple G" or "King Kong" for weight loss because it mimics three hormones: GLP-1, GIP, and a third peptide hormone called glucagon, which helps break down stored fat into energy. Some say it could rival bariatric surgery in clinical results in terms of weight loss.

Eli Lilly is expected to submit retatrutide to the US Food and Drug Administration for approval in early 2027. If all goes well, it could be available sometime next year, for conditions including obesity, obesity-related sleep apnea, and knee osteoarthritis.

In this clinical trial, side effect profiles were generally similar between patients taking Ozempic and retatrutide, but slightly more patients on retatrutide reported diarrhea, while constipation was slightly more common among Ozempic-takers. People on retatrutide also had slightly higher rates of a rare side effect called dysesthesia, triggering tingling, skin-on-fire type sensations.

The clinical trial results have not yet been peer-reviewed or published in a medical journal, but were released as the company prepares to announce its quarterly earnings on Thursday.

Knock-off reta is already booming on the black market

The drug, which is still in clinical trials, has attracted copycat peptide sellers shipping powders labeled "reta" from overseas, stoking a gray market of do-it-yourself injections. Bodybuilders say it helps shred fat and reduce appetite, with fewer side effects than other injectable weight-loss pens.

But nobody really knows exactly what they are taking, though their results seem to roughly mirror what happens when people take the real thing in clinical trials.

In an unusual move, Eli Lilly addressed the pre-approval black-market hype in their release announcing the latest results.

"Retatrutide is an investigational molecule that has not been approved by FDA or any regulatory organization anywhere in the world," the company said in a statement. "Anyone purporting to sell retatrutide to consumers is breaking the law."

• In his 40s, Jonathan Yang decided he wanted to get hot — and stopped feeling ashamed to say it.
• His paycheck funded hair transplants, a nose job, and GLP-1s, which he continued post-layoff.
• As his body changed, he said he felt more confident and also noticed that people treated him better.

This is an as-told-to essay based on a conversation with Jonathan Yang, who was laid off from Meta in late 2024 after more than three years on the office design team. The 43-year-old shares how his job, cosmetic procedures, and weight loss shaped his confidence. The following has been edited for brevity and clarity.

At Meta, I worked really hard. I had golden handcuffs. I did not prioritize my health. You go to Meta, and they call it the "Facebook 15." Well, it was probably more than 15 pounds because of all the food that's available and all the stress. So, I just really let myself go. I put in everything I could to keep the job.

One upside was that having a bigger paycheck allowed me to start exploring things that I'd always wanted to do — emotionally, physically, aesthetically. I could finally afford a $10,000 hair transplant.

I also got a nose job. I've also had another hair transplant. Looking good and feeling good, to me, are fundamentally tied together. That's for me, and not everybody needs that. A lot of people out there are very successful being their own person and not letting that get to them. I'm not that strong.

I just wanted to get hot

Doing these things started to change how I felt about myself. It started to take away some of the shame that I had around getting aesthetic treatments. Because, as a man, it's seen as superfluous, and it's frowned upon. Before that, I had done a lot of soul-searching, therapy, and all kinds of things.

I hired a trainer, and I felt good, but the change wasn't happening fast enough. Then GLP-1s came out. I'd been waiting for something like that. I finally got on them, and then the weight started to come off, and I just started to blossom.

Once I started seeing the results, I just wanted to get hot. I wanted, at 43, to finally feel confident enough to say that out loud without having any kind of qualms about it. I think working out is a segue for people to think about improving their lives emotionally — to talk about those things — and fitness is an acceptable way for men to kind of go into that.

At work, I would get up onstage and be much more confident. Before that, it wasn't a conscious thing where I knew why I was so meek. When I look back, I would be nervous. I wouldn't smile. On GLP-1s, I started to really change and show up differently at work, and I was getting promotions. I just felt like I had more command because I lost the weight. My coworkers and managers all treated me better.

Now I'm on a lower dose of GLP-1s. I have to pay for it myself now that I'm self-employed. That's not something I'm going to stop.

People look at me differently

After my layoff, my weight was something I could control. I had to build a new routine. My body needed it, too. I had sciatica, and I had all this nerve pain. It really was like my body broke. I had never felt something like that.

I became hyper-focused on wellness, keeping fit, and eating well. Losing weight gave me the confidence to share my story. It allowed me to shed any insecurity or cringe. We say that a lot, but it was like I'm at this point now where I've only got one life to live. I know what it tastes like now.

After all the changes I made, people looked at me differently. A thing that people don't really talk about is how, on the surface, it really is about looks. I would walk into a situation with this naive sense of, "Oh, they're not looking at my weight."

As soon as I started looking more conventionally attractive, I noticed that was the first thing people would comment on. I would meet people, and they would say, "Well, you obviously go to the gym a lot," or "Oh, look at those arms!" I was like, "Wow! We live in this world where we're told, 'Aesthetics don't really matter. People look at your character.' Unfortunately, it's not true. I wish it were.

Do you have a story about how your appearance has affected your work or career? Contact this reporter at tparadis@businessinsider.com.