Retatrutide and the next GLP-1s: trials, approvals and prices

What this comes down to

• Retatrutide's phase 2 trial enrolled 338 adults with obesity. At 48 weeks, least-squares mean weight change was -24.2% at 12 mg against -2.1% on placebo. Six trial-tagged reports of it are indexed in total.
• Orforglipron is the further along of the two and the smaller number: a phase 3 trial of 3,127 patients reported -11.2% at 36 mg against -2.1% on placebo at 72 weeks. It is a small molecule, not a peptide, which is why it can be a tablet — and the FDA approved it as FOUNDAYO on April 1, 2026.
• None of the 387 sellers we review prices retatrutide, cagrilintide, survodutide, mazdutide, amycretin or tesofensine today, while 274 of them price semaglutide.
• A drug with no approval has no approved indication, no approved dose and no FDA-reviewed labeling. Whatever is in a vial sold under one of these names, nothing has reviewed what it is.

Is retatrutide approved, and how much weight did it produce?

The phase 2 trial enrolled 338 adults with obesity. At 24 weeks, least-squares mean percent weight change was -7.2% at 1 mg, -12.9% at 4 mg, -17.3% at 8 mg and -17.5% at 12 mg, against -1.6% on placebo. At 48 weeks those became -8.7%, -17.1%, -22.8% and -24.2%, against -2.1%. At 12 mg, every participant lost at least 5%, 93% lost at least 10% and 83% lost at least 15%^[1]. The adverse events were gastrointestinal and dose-related, and the trial reports dose-dependent increases in heart rate that peaked at 24 weeks and then declined.

Is orforglipron (Foundayo) approved, and is it a pill?

Orforglipron is a small-molecule, non-peptide GLP-1 receptor agonist, which is the whole point of it: a small molecule survives the gut, so it can be a once-daily tablet without the absorption enhancer and the empty-stomach ritual that the approved oral semaglutide requires. Its phase 3 obesity trial randomized 3,127 patients without diabetes across 6 mg, 12 mg, 36 mg and placebo for 72 weeks. Mean weight change was -7.5%, -8.4% and -11.2% against -2.1% on placebo, and adverse events led to discontinuation in 5.3% to 10.3% of treated patients against 2.7% on placebo^[2].

Set that beside the head-to-head result and the ordering is clear enough: the approved injections are still the larger effect. SURMOUNT-5 reported -20.2% and -13.7% at 72 weeks for the two approved injectables^[6]. An 11.2% oral result is a real drug and a different product, and the reason to want it is convenience rather than magnitude. The two molecules now sit on opposite sides of the line: retatrutide has no approved product of any kind, while orforglipron was approved by the FDA as FOUNDAYO on April 1, 2026 under NDA 220934^[4], and FDA product labeling lists it beside the semaglutide and tirzepatide brands^[3]. Six trial-tagged reports stand behind retatrutide and seventeen behind orforglipron^[5].

How much trial evidence each name actually has. A PubMed search finds 6 results; the same search for semaglutide finds 316.

Can you buy retatrutide from a telehealth company?

Across the 387 sellers we review, not one publishes a priced line for retatrutide, cagrilintide, survodutide, mazdutide, amycretin or tesofensine, while 274 of them price semaglutide. That is the right answer, and it is not a guaranteed one. Where these molecules do appear is the research-chemical market, sold by the milligram with no prescription and no pharmacy, and that market is outside everything our grading method can see.

• An unapproved molecule has no approved dose. Every number on a vial of it is somebody's choice, not a reviewed one.
• Phase 2 numbers shrink. Compare like with like: 48-week phase 2 against 72-week phase 3 is not a comparison.
• Ask what is actually in the vial and who tested it. What third-party testing proves is the article about how little a certificate on a website establishes.
• If a seller offers you one of these by name, that tells you something about the seller regardless of the molecule. Where compounded semaglutide stands with the FDA sets out what the rules for an unapproved bulk substance are.

Questions people actually ask