The short answer: eloralintide and retatrutide are both Eli Lilly drugs in testing, and they work in different ways. Eloralintide hits one target, the amylin receptor. Retatrutide hits three: GIP, GLP-1 and glucagon.
In separate phase 2 trials at 48 weeks, eloralintide's top arm averaged -20.1% body weight and retatrutide's averaged -24.2%. They have never been tested against each other, and no registered trial plans to. So every "which is stronger" answer you've seen, including this one, is a cross-trial comparison.
Status as of November 6, 2026: Neither drug is approved anywhere. Retatrutide has phase 3 results, and Lilly plans to file for U.S. approval in Q1 2027. Eloralintide has phase 2 results only; its phase 3 trials are running and none has reported. Every number below comes from a sponsor's trial. Nothing here is medical advice or a dosing guide.
Key takeaways
Eloralintide is a selective amylin receptor agonist. Retatrutide is a GIP, GLP-1 and glucagon triple agonist.
Cross-trial, phase 2, 48 weeks, no diabetes: eloralintide 9 mg -20.1% (placebo -0.4%), retatrutide 12 mg -24.2% (placebo -2.1%).
Cross-trial side effects: nausea 33% on eloralintide 9 mg, 42.4% on retatrutide 12 mg. Fatigue was 43% on eloralintide 9 mg.
EloraTZP is eloralintide plus tirzepatide. In one 48-week phase 2b trial in type 2 diabetes, its top combination averaged -23.3%, vs -14.8% on tirzepatide alone.
Earliest estimated primary completion for a phase 3 eloralintide trial is January 2028. Retatrutide's planned filing is Q1 2027.
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Eloralintide vs reta: how do they work?
Different hormones, different receptors. Lilly calls eloralintide a "selective amylin receptor agonist" that may cut calorie intake, likely through "satiety, or the feeling of fullness" (Lilly, Nov 6, 2025). Amylin is released by the pancreas along with insulin, and it reduces appetite through the brainstem and by slowing stomach emptying (Diabetes Therapy, 2026).
Retatrutide is "an agonist of the glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide, glucagon-like peptide 1, and glucagon receptors" (NEJM, 2023). That's tirzepatide's pathway plus glucagon, covered in reta vs tirzepatide. Eloralintide's half-life is about 14 days (Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism, 2026). Retatrutide's is about 6.
Does eloralintide work as well as reta for weight loss?
On the numbers so far, no: retatrutide's are higher. But the fairest available pair is two small phase 2 trials, and the gap is about 2 to 4 points depending on how you count.
Cross-trial comparison. Separate trials, not head-to-head.
Trial | Who | Length | Top arm | Weight change | Placebo |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Eloralintide phase 2 | 263 adults, no diabetes | 48 weeks | 9 mg | -20.1% | -0.4% |
Retatrutide phase 2 | 338 adults | 48 weeks | 12 mg | -24.2% | -2.1% |
Sources: Lilly, Nov 6, 2025, Lancet, 2025, NEJM, 2023.
Both rows count people as if they stayed on the drug. Taking placebo out gives -19.7 points for eloralintide and -22.1 for retatrutide. Reasons not to treat that as settled:
The people differ. The eloralintide trial was 78% female. The retatrutide trial was 51.8% men.
The arms are small. Eloralintide's 9 mg arm had 54 people.
Retatrutide has phase 3 data and eloralintide doesn't. TRIUMPH-1 reached -28.3% at 80 weeks on the same stay-on-drug count (Lilly, June 6, 2026), or -25.0% vs -3.9% placebo counting everyone randomized (NEJM, 2026). Nobody knows eloralintide's 80-week number.
In type 2 diabetes the gap looks wider. Eloralintide alone reached -12.3% at 6 mg and -11.1% at 9 mg at 48 weeks, vs -3.0% placebo (Lilly, Sept 30, 2026). Retatrutide 12 mg reached -20.8% at 80 weeks in TRIUMPH-2, vs -4.0% placebo (Lilly, Sept 29, 2026). Cross-trial again, and 32 weeks apart.
Eloralintide vs reta side effects
Both cause nausea. Retatrutide's trial shows more stomach side effects and more quitting. Eloralintide's stands out for fatigue. This sets a 48-week arm of 54 people next to an 80-week trial of 2,339, so read it as a sketch.
Cross-trial comparison. Each drug against its own placebo.
Side effect | Eloralintide 9 mg (phase 2) | Retatrutide 12 mg (TRIUMPH-1) |
|---|---|---|
Nausea | 33% vs 13% | 42.4% vs 14.8% |
Vomiting | 11% vs 0% | 25.3% vs 4.8% |
Diarrhea | 11% vs 9% | 32.0% vs 13.5% |
Constipation | 24% vs 6% | 26.1% vs 10.9% |
Fatigue | 43% vs 11% | Not in Lilly's listed events |
Dysesthesia (skin sensation) | Not listed in registry results | 12.5% vs 0.9% |
Left over side effects | 1.9% vs 3.8% (left the study) | 11.3% vs 4.9% (stopped treatment) |
Sources: ClinicalTrials.gov results, Lilly, June 6, 2026. Eloralintide percentages are my math from the registry's counts.
What the table hides:
The step-up mattered. Nausea was 64% in the 6 mg arm (18 of 28) but 25% in the arm that stepped up from 3 mg (13 of 52). That slower arm also lost less, at -16.4%.
Fatigue is the open question. It hit 46% in the 6 mg to 9 mg arm (11 of 24). A 100-person phase 1 trial also logged four mood-related events. Three people stopped treatment, and their events resolved in 2 to 4 days (Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism, 2026). Too few people to conclude anything. Worth watching in phase 3.
Heart rate may run the other way. Retatrutide's phase 2 trial reported increases, as covered in reta and heart rate. Eloralintide's registry results list bradycardia, a slow heart rate, in 9 of 210 people, vs none of 53 on placebo. The posted results don't say what that meant clinically.
Hair loss. Reported in 15 of 210 on eloralintide, none of 53 on placebo.
The full retatrutide list is in is reta safe?
What is eloraTZP?
EloraTZP is eloralintide combined with tirzepatide, the drug in Zepbound and Mounjaro. It's meant to activate GIP, GLP-1 and amylin at once, "with minimal activity at the calcitonin receptor" (Lilly, Sept 30, 2026). Lilly calls it its "latest triple-acting medicine" (Lilly, Sept 15, 2026). The third target is amylin, where retatrutide has glucagon.
The EASD 2026 data came from a 48-week phase 2b trial in 367 adults with obesity or overweight and type 2 diabetes, split evenly across 10 arms (NCT06603571). The two drugs were separate injections. Figures assume people stayed on the drug.
Arm (same trial) | Weight change | A1C change |
|---|---|---|
Eloralintide 9 mg + tirzepatide 15 mg | -23.3% | -2.9 |
Tirzepatide 15 mg alone | -14.8% | -2.4 |
Eloralintide 6 mg alone | -12.3% | -1.4 |
Placebo | -3.0% | -0.3 |
Source: Lilly, Sept 30, 2026. The other combinations ranged from -13.2% to -19.9%. These are conference results. I found no journal paper, and the registry has no posted results.
Tolerability is the cost. Stomach side effects were more frequent on the combinations than on either drug alone. Stopping over side effects ran 10.8% to 27.0% on eloraTZP, vs 0% to 10.8% on eloralintide and 2.9% on tirzepatide. Placebo was 16.7%, which is strange, and Lilly's release doesn't explain it. With about 37 people per arm, a handful of dropouts moves these numbers a lot.
Is eloraTZP stronger than reta? Unknown. One trade report said it "appears to have also topped" retatrutide, then added that "no head-to-head trial has been conducted" (Clinical Trials Arena, 2026). The cross-trial pair in type 2 diabetes is -23.3% at 48 weeks for one eloraTZP arm and -20.8% at 80 weeks for retatrutide 12 mg.
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Eloralintide vs cagrilintide: what's the difference?
Both are long-acting amylin drugs. Cagrilintide is Novo Nordisk's. A Lilly-authored paper calls it "a non-selective amylin receptor agonist" and reports eloralintide about 12 times more potent at the human amylin 1 receptor than at the calcitonin receptor (Molecular Metabolism, 2025). Whether that matters in people is unproven. The paper's direct comparison with cagrilintide was a taste-avoidance test in rats, and it says the calcitonin receptor's role in human weight loss "remains unclear."
Cross-trial comparison. Separate trials, not head-to-head.
Eloralintide | Cagrilintide | |
|---|---|---|
Alone, best public result | -20.1% vs -0.4% placebo | -11.8% vs -2.3% placebo |
Trial | Phase 2, 48 weeks, 9 mg arm of 54 | REDEFINE 1, 68 weeks, 2.4 mg arm of 302 |
Counted | As if all stayed on drug | "If all adhered to treatment" |
Nausea | 33% | 24% |
Phase 3 alone | ENLIGHTEN, from Jan 2028 | RENEW 1 and 2, May 2027 |
Sources: Lilly, Nov 6, 2025, Novo Nordisk Annual Report 2025, NEJM, 2025, Molecular Metabolism, 2025, RENEW 1, RENEW 2. Phase 3 dates are estimated primary completion.
Eloralintide's number is bigger, but it's a small phase 2 arm, and cagrilintide's is a sub-analysis of one dose in a trial built to test CagriSema. That isn't a verdict on the two molecules.
When could eloralintide be available, compared to reta?
Years later, if it's approved at all. "Lilly plans to submit a Biologics License Application (BLA) in Q1 2027" for retatrutide (Lilly, Sept 29, 2026). Lilly told a federal appeals court on October 8 it will file "no later than the first quarter of 2027" (Lilly brief, Oct 8, 2026). The filing date and what's still unknown are in the retatrutide approval timeline. I found no filing date for eloralintide or eloraTZP.
On November 6 I pulled every eloralintide record on ClinicalTrials.gov: 25, all sponsored by Eli Lilly. Eight are phase 3. None of those has results.
Trial | Testing | Status | Est. primary completion |
|---|---|---|---|
Eloralintide, type 2 diabetes | Recruiting | Jan 2028 | |
Eloralintide, no diabetes | Recruiting | Mar 2028 | |
Sleep apnea | Recruiting | Mar 2028 | |
Knee osteoarthritis pain | Recruiting | Mar 2028 | |
Added to a weekly incretin | Recruiting | Jun 2028 | |
Diabetes and heart risk | Not yet recruiting | Nov 2029 | |
EloraTZP vs tirzepatide, diabetes | Recruiting | Oct 2029 | |
EloraTZP vs tirzepatide, eloralintide, placebo | Not yet recruiting | Oct 2029 |
None of the eight includes retatrutide, and a registry search for trials with both drugs came back empty. So even in 2029, this may still be a cross-trial question.
Can you get eloralintide now?
Not as a medicine. It's investigational, and the main phase 3 records list no expanded access, so the route to the real drug is one of Lilly's trials.
"Eloralintide peptide buy" is a real search, and this post won't help with it. Every number above came from Lilly's own drug inside a trial. None of it tells you what's in a vial from anywhere else, which is why what a lab found in thousands of vials and what "research use only" means matter here. The reta version is in can you legally get retatrutide.
What would settle eloralintide vs reta?
Nothing scheduled would settle it directly. Three things would narrow it, and I'll update this post when any of them lands:
ENLIGHTEN-1 and -2: eloralintide's first phase 3 numbers, including whether the fatigue holds up.
TRIUMPH-5: retatrutide vs tirzepatide, primary completion estimated for November 2026 (ClinicalTrials.gov). No results found as of today.
A full eloraTZP paper: side effect rates by arm and a count that includes everyone randomized.
If you're following amylin drugs because a GLP-1 didn't work for you, reply and tell me what you're watching for.
Eloralintide vs retatrutide FAQ
Is eloralintide a GLP-1?
No. It's an amylin receptor agonist, a different pathway. EloraTZP does include GLP-1 activity, because tirzepatide is half of it.
Is eloralintide better than retatrutide?
Nobody can say, because they haven't been compared directly. In separate trials, retatrutide lost more weight and eloralintide's 9 mg arm had less vomiting and more reported fatigue.
Is eloraTZP the same as retatrutide?
No. EloraTZP is two drugs covering GIP, GLP-1 and amylin. Retatrutide is one molecule covering GIP, GLP-1 and glucagon.
When will eloralintide phase 3 results come out?
The earliest estimated primary completion is January 2028, for ENLIGHTEN-2. Registry estimates can move.
Is cagrilintide the same as eloralintide?
No. Both target amylin, but cagrilintide is Novo Nordisk's and described as non-selective, and eloralintide is Lilly's and described as selective. Neither is approved.
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