Retatrutide for the treatment of obesity, obstructive sleep apnea and knee osteoarthritis: Rationale and design of the TRIUMPH registrational clinical trials

Abstract

Aims: Retatrutide, a novel synthetic molecule, is a triple agonist activating the glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide, glucagon-like peptide-1 and glucagon receptors. The TRIUMPH clinical development program evaluates its safety and efficacy concurrently for the treatment of obesity and two related complications—obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and knee osteoarthritis (OA). A novel basket trial design simultaneously evaluates retatrutide treatment across these multiple adiposity-related disease states. Materials and methods: TRIUMPH consists of four Phase 3, multicenter, randomized, double-blind studies assessing weekly subcutaneous retatrutide compared to placebo, in conjunction with healthy diet and physical activity in over 5800 participants. The four trials consist of two weight management basket trials (TRIUMPH-1 and TRIUMPH-2) with OSA and/or OA protocols nested within the weight management trial; one weight management trial in a population with CVD (TRIUMPH-3); and one stand-alone OA trial (TRIUMPH-4). The primary endpoint for weight management is percent change in body weight, for OSA is change in Apnea-Hypopnea Index and for knee OA includes change in the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index pain subscale score. The basket trial permits independent analysis of weight management, OSA and OA studies with type I error rate controlled at α = 0.05, split between the overarching weight management and each basket trial. Conclusions: By recruiting participants with shared disease exposures, the TRIUMPH program will assess the safety and efficacy of retatrutide for the treatment of adults with obesity and two of its common complications—OSA and OA.