retatrutide vs semaglutide, is there actually a head to head or is everyone just subtracting numbers?

Question

There is no direct head to head between these. Every comparison you see is cross-trial.

Cross-trial comparison is unreliable for boring but decisive reasons: different populations, different entry criteria, different durations, different background care, different analysis conventions. Completer analysis vs intention to treat alone changes the reported number by several points.

So when someone puts reta's phase 2 figure next to sema's phase 3 figure and subtracts, that number isn't meaningful.

Status: semaglutide approved with completed phase 3. Retatrutide investigational, phase 2.

Honest answer to "which is better" is the comparison hasn't been made, and mechanistically they aren't doing the same thing anyway. One receptor vs three.

effect_size_pls · Answer

The ITT vs completer point is the one I'd underline. That gap can be several percentage points, often bigger than the difference people are trying to detect.

MetabolicLurker · Answer

so the comparison everyone makes literally doesnt exist?

n_of_what · Answer

Cross-trial isn't always useless, there are formal indirect comparison methods. But that isn't what's happening when someone subtracts two headline numbers.

same_tbh · Answer

arithmetic on press releases lol

quick_q · Answer

so theres genuinely no head to head at all?

retatrutide vs semaglutide, is there actually a head to head or is everyone just subtracting numbers?

Peptides discussed

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