GLP-1 receptor agonists

The incretin drugs are this index's approved anchor: peptide analogues of gut hormones with trial programs in the tens of thousands of participants and weight outcomes no other class approaches. They are also where 2026's supply-side changes cut hardest, as the FDA moved to end the mass compounding that grew up during the shortages.

The class question for a reader is no longer whether these drugs work; it is which molecule, at which dose, through which lawful channel. On that question the class has stopped being uniform: two members hold approvals with their shortages formally resolved, one holds approvals and is still listed in shortage, one is licensed for diabetes and cardiovascular risk with no weight indication at all, and one has a phase 3 trial record and no approval.

The records are at semaglutide and tirzepatide, whose shortages FDA declared resolved; liraglutide, approved since 2010 and still listed as in shortage; dulaglutide, whose label names glycemic control and cardiovascular risk and nothing about weight; and retatrutide, which FDA states cannot be used in compounding under federal law. The approved page states where compounded copies now stand.

The class on the other records

The 2026 WADA Prohibited List names no member of this class. It does not name Retatrutide, and that is not the same as permitted: the relevant sections are expressly non-exhaustive, and section S0 covers any substance with no current approval for human therapeutic use.

The vote ledger and the WADA table carry the sources.

Elsewhere in this index