Eli Lilly has put the kibosh on an early-stage obesity drug after the candidate didn’t meet the pharma giant’s lofty expectations.
The drug, codenamed LY4064912, “didn't meet our high bar for continued development,” a Lilly spokesperson confirmed to Fierce. The drug’s phase 1 trial, which enrolled 77 people, has been terminated. The trial was being run in California, Texas and Singapore, and included healthy volunteers as well as those with overweight or obesity.
Lilly did not respond to questions from Fierce about the drug’s mechanism, but LY4064912 was meant to be delivered via injection or infusion, according to the federal clinical trial database.
Lilly recently stopped publicly disclosing its early-stage pipeline projects, removing them from its website and earnings updates.
Now an undisputed leader in obesity medicine, Lilly still boasts a robust pipeline of next-gen candidates in phase 2 and phase 3 development. With Zepbound and Foundayo already approved in the blockbuster indication, Lilly’s next leading star drug is retatrutide, which has already become immensely popular through the compounding pharmacy black market, much to Lilly’s chagrin.
Reta, as it's commonly known, is a GIP, GLP-1 and glucagon triple-hormone receptor agonist that recently scored a weight loss mark of 22.6% in a phase 3 trial. Lilly plans to submit the drug for FDA approval in the first quarter of 2027.
In the related realm of diabetes, Lilly last week backed a spinout from Kura Oncology that will take forward a new menin inhibitor that Kura calls “purpose-designed for chronic metabolic diseases.”