Benchmarks · Data as of Oct 10, 2026
Independent benchmarks for peptide medicines.
We score GLP-1s, next-generation obesity drugs and compounded peptides on the same published evidence: weight loss, side effects, trial size and regulatory status. Compare them side by side and check every calculation.
GLP-1 Performance Index
Weight loss per unit of side-effect burden. Higher is better. Phase 3 trials only.
* Wegovy pill: small trial with dose reductions. OASIS 4 included 307 adults, only about 205 of them on the pill, against 1,961 in STEP 1 for the injection, so its side-effect rates are less reliable. In addition, 18.6% of participants who completed treatment ended on a lower dose than 25 mg, which probably kept some from stopping and lowered the reported 6.9% discontinuation rate. Its ranking against the injection should be treated as provisional.
More weight loss, fewer side effects
Each dot is one medicine's main trial. The best place to be is top left.
What changed
Approvals, results and data updates
- Platform Peptide Analysis launches: the GLP-1 Performance Index, compound database and catalyst tracker.
Evidence maps
Every trial arm, outcome trial and milestone, each number linked to its source
Map 1
Weight loss vs side-effect toll
Each dot is one dose in one trial. Up and to the left is better.
15 of 25 arms plotted. 10 have no published figure for this measure, so they appear only in the table.
Pipeline
Where every obesity drug stands, by how it works
Pipeline map
Every obesity drug in Phase 2 or later, by how it works
From Phase 2 to approval. Rows are the hormones a drug acts on, columns are how far it has got.
Phase 2
7 programsPhase 3
14 programsFiled
1 programApproved
7 programsStatus as of Oct 17, 2026, from company announcements and public pipeline trackers. Phase 1 programs are left out because most companies do not disclose them. Stages move often, so check the catalyst calendar below for what is next.
Sources for drugs without a full profile
- European Biotechnology: Roche moves CT-388 into Phase III
- Pfizer: Phase 2b results support monthly berobenatide
- AstraZeneca: elecoglipron moves to Phase III
- Structure Therapeutics: Q1 2026 results (Phase 3 start guided for Q3 2026)
- Midgard Finance obesity pipeline tracker, as of Oct 17, 2026
- Reuters factbox: weight-loss drugmakers race for a slice of a $100bn market, Oct 16, 2026
Patent map
Where semaglutide, tirzepatide and orforglipron are still protected, and where generics are allowed
World map
Semaglutide injection (Ozempic, Wegovy)
Hover a country for its status, the date and the source.
Compounded peptides
Unapproved peptides sold through clinics and online, and what the evidence behind them looks like
What are compounded peptides?
Compounding pharmacies mix custom medicines from raw ingredients for individual prescriptions. Peptides such as BPC-157 and TB-500 have never been through FDA approval, so they can only be compounded legally if the FDA adds them to an approved ingredients list. A few, such as sermorelin and glutathione, are already allowed. In July 2026 the FDA's advisory committee backed six more of seven candidates, against the advice of FDA staff. Five others are up for review by February 2027.
Not the same as approved peptide drugs
Semaglutide, tirzepatide and the other medicines in our rankings are also peptides, but they went through full Phase 3 trials and FDA approval. Compounded peptides have not, so the evidence behind them is usually far thinner.
How strong is the evidence?
Strongest kind of study published for each peptide
Coming up
Decisions, filings and trial results ahead
Articles
Research notes on trials, mechanisms and the pipeline
Two numbers from one trial: why obesity drugs report different weight-loss figures
On treatment or everyone randomised? The same dose of the same drug can show a gap of three points depending on the question being asked. How to read both, and why the gap itself tells you something.
4 min readBeyond the scale: what the outcome trials show for the heart, kidneys and heart failure
SELECT, FLOW, SUMMIT, SOUL, SURPASS-CVOT and ACHIEVE-4: where the hard-outcome evidence stands, which drugs have it, and why the newest drugs with the biggest weight loss still have none.
4 min readThe side-effect toll: who stops treatment, and why it matters more than nausea
Nausea is common across every obesity drug. Dropouts for side effects range from 1% to 25%, and they do not follow nausea rates. Four patterns from the trial data.
3 min readAfter the first two pills: the next wave of oral obesity drugs
Aleniglipron, elecoglipron, oral VK2735, CT-996 and more. What the second wave of obesity pills has shown so far, and the three things that will separate them.
4 min readDo GLP-1 drugs slow ageing? What the evidence shows so far
Old mice that lived 12% longer, molecular clocks running two to three years slower in people, and a federally funded trial about to start in healthy adults in their sixties. The case that GLP-1 drugs act on ageing itself, and why it is not settled.
7 min readWegovy pill vs Foundayo: efficacy against convenience in the first oral GLP-1s
Two daily GLP-1 tablets are now approved for obesity. One matches the injection on weight loss; the other removes every dosing constraint. The data on the trade-off.
6 min readRetatrutide: what a record 28.3% weight loss does and does not show
Eli Lilly's triple agonist produced the largest weight loss of any major obesity trial. The efficacy is clear; the tolerability, the heart data and the timeline need more care.
6 min readAmylin: the second hormone behind the next wave of obesity drugs
After GLP-1, most of the large obesity developers have an amylin programme. What the hormone does, how the leading assets compare and where the evidence is still thin.
7 min read