Drug Cuts Knee Pain and Body Weight in Major Trial

Results from two phase 3 clinical trials — TRIUMPH-4 and TRIUMPH-1-OA — were presented at the American College of Rheumatology annual meeting and published in the New England Journal of Medicine. The drug, retatrutide, was tested in patients living with painful knee osteoarthritis (a condition where the protective cartilage inside the joint breaks down) alongside obesity.

Both trials found that patients taking retatrutide saw their WOMAC pain scores — a standard measure used by doctors to track joint pain, stiffness and physical function — fall considerably more than those given a placebo. Body weight also dropped more in the retatrutide group.

Retatrutide is a type of drug that works on multiple gut hormone receptors at once, a different mechanism from the single-receptor drugs such as semaglutide that many people will recognise from news coverage of weight-loss treatments. Phase 3 means these are large, late-stage trials designed to test whether a drug works well enough to seek regulatory approval.

The results are preliminary in the sense that retatrutide has not yet been approved for use by medicines regulators in the UK or elsewhere. Any path to NHS prescribing would require review by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and, separately, an assessment of cost-effectiveness by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE).

Osteoarthritis of the knee is one of the most common causes of long-term pain and reduced mobility in adults. The NHS estimates that around a third of people over 45 in the UK have sought treatment for it at some point.

If you have persistent knee pain, speak to your GP in the first instance. For general health questions, NHS 111 is available by phone or online at any time.