CT-G32 vs Retatrutide: What Changes When Researchers Add a Fourth Hormone Pathway?

One pathway, two, three, now four

Obesity medicines have been getting more complicated, because the body controls weight with several signals, not one. Researchers have been adding signals one at a time.

More targets do not automatically mean a better medicine. How strongly a medicine acts on each target, how long it lasts in the body and how well people tolerate it can matter more than the count.

What the four pathways are

• GLP-1 and GIP are gut hormones released after eating. They affect appetite, stomach emptying and insulin release.
• Glucagon acts mainly on the liver and is linked to how the body uses energy. It can also raise blood sugar, which is one reason the balance between pathways matters.
• Amylin is released along with insulin. It helps end a meal and slows digestion, partly through different brain pathways than GLP-1.

These are descriptions of what the pathways do in the body. They are not separate proven effects of CT-G32. "GLP-3" and similar nicknames are not a real receptor; they are slang for retatrutide's three-target design.

CT-G32 and retatrutide, side by side

The check marks show what each medicine is designed to act on. They do not show strength or results.

What was actually reported in November 2026

On November 4, 2026, SCOHIA PHARMA and Celltrion released first results from a conference presentation in Amsterdam (November 3 to 5). In rats made obese with a high-calorie diet:

• The developers say CT-G32 produced numerically greater weight loss than retatrutide at the same molar dose.
• They say a relatively smaller proportion of the weight lost was lean body mass.
• They say it lowered the elevated insulin seen in the obese rats.
• In monkeys, they say it stayed in the body for a prolonged time, which they say supports a possible once-weekly format.

The first point carries the most caution, and the words matter. "Numerically greater" means a larger average, not a difference shown to be statistically meaningful. "Same molar dose" means the same number of molecules, not the same weight in milligrams. And "rats" means rats: a few news articles wrote "mice," but both companies' releases say rats.

Lean mass is not the same as muscle

When weight drops, some of what is lost is fat and some is lean tissue. Lean body mass means everything that is not fat: muscle, organs, water and more. So a finding about lean mass is not automatically a finding about muscle.

There is a second catch. The companies describe the proportion of weight loss that was lean. A smaller share of a bigger total can still be the same amount of lean tissue, or more. Only the actual numbers can tell, and they have not been released. What matters for people is the composition of what is lost, the absolute amounts, and strength and function. Early rat data cannot answer those. For everyday context on protecting muscle during weight loss, see the Atlas guide to protein and strength.

What a fourth pathway could change, and what it could cost

The developers say they designed CT-G32 to address two gaps in current medicines: people respond very differently to the same drug, and some of the weight lost is lean tissue. Adding amylin is their route to both. Amylin works partly through brain pathways that differ from GLP-1, so the hope is a stronger or steadier feeling of fullness for people who respond only modestly to GLP-1 based medicines.

That is a hypothesis. A fourth active pathway also adds ways for things to go wrong. Medicines in this family commonly cause stomach and digestive side effects, and stacking pathways that all slow digestion and curb appetite could make those effects harder to manage. Glucagon has to be balanced against the others so it does not push blood sugar the wrong way. And a molecule that does four jobs has to do each job in the right proportion, which is a design problem no press release can show.

Researchers will look for three things in the next round of data: whether the weight difference holds up with real statistics, whether side effects stay manageable as pathways are added, and whether the lean-mass signal appears when composition is measured in absolute terms. Until then, the honest description is "interesting design, early evidence."

Why we cannot rank them yet

1. Animals are not people. Rat biology differs, rats cannot vomit (so nausea is hard to measure), and short studies miss long-term effects.
2. The statistics are missing. No group sizes, percentages, study length, amounts or statistical tests were released.
3. Doses are not comparable across species. A rat amount says nothing about a human amount. The Atlas does not give dosing guidance, and nothing here suggests an amount for anyone.
4. Monkey exposure is not a human schedule. Prolonged exposure in primates suggests a long-acting design. It does not show that the medicine would last a week in people.
5. Trial quality matters. Retatrutide's numbers come from large human trials with defined groups and endpoints. See the trial results tool for how the Atlas reads those.

A different animal study of a different design could have gone the other way. A comparison like this is a reason to keep studying a medicine, not to rank it.

An application to start trials is not approval

Celltrion says it aims to submit an Investigational New Drug (IND) application to the US FDA by February 2027 and to dose the first patient in the second quarter of 2027 if the regulatory review goes smoothly. Both are company targets, not events that have happened. An IND asks permission to begin human testing. It is not approval to sell, and it does not mean any trial has opened.

Timeline

Rows marked Company target are plans. They have not happened yet.

Open questions

• What were the weight changes in each group, how many animals, and for how long?
• Were the differences statistically meaningful?
• How much fat and how much lean tissue changed in absolute terms, and how was it measured?
• How strongly does the molecule act on each of the four targets?
• What do the monkey exposure data and the primate safety studies show?
• When will a structure, a paper or a registered trial be disclosed?

What the Atlas will update when more data appear

A poster or paper with numbers; a registered trial; an application to start trials; primate safety results; any structural information. Each update will be dated in the note at the top.

Frequently asked questions

Is CT-G32 the same as SCO-940?

Yes. SCOHIA uses SCO-940 and Celltrion uses CT-G32.

Did CT-G32 beat retatrutide?

In one rat comparison, the developers report numerically greater weight loss at the same molar dose. No figures or statistics were released, and the two have not been compared in people.

Does it preserve muscle?

That has not been shown. The developers report a smaller share of lean mass in the weight lost in rats. Lean mass is not the same as muscle.

Will it be a weekly injection?

The developers say monkey data suggest a once-weekly format may be possible. That is a goal, not a schedule.

Is it approved or available?

No. It is a preclinical candidate.

When could trials start?

The developer targets an application by February 2027 and first dosing in the second quarter of 2027, if review goes smoothly.

Should I wait for it?

The Atlas does not advise what anyone should take or wait for. Questions about treatment belong with a prescriber.