Eli Lilly's experimental GLP-1 pill may rival Ozempic and Wegovy? Check how much weight you could lose
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Eli Lily on daily GLP-1 pills
Eli Lilly's weight loss pill doesn't appear to work as well as Wall Street had hoped. The drugmaker said Thursday the highest dose of its daily obesity pill helped patients lose almost 12% of their body weight, or roughly 27 pounds, at 72 weeks in a late-stage trial. The result falls on the lower end of Wall Street's expectations.Shares of the company fell around 13% on Thursday, according to CNBC. Meanwhile, shares of rival Novo Nordisk, which is also working to bring an obesity pill to the market, jumped more than 7% on Thursday.Eli Lilly, which makes the injectable drugs Zepbound to treat obesity and Mounjaro and Trulicity to treat diabetes, is among several companies chasing an effective pill form of GLP-1s. The only such pill available so far comes with strict diet restrictions and is approved to treat diabetes.Lilly says that no food or water restrictions are needed with the experimental oral medication, orforglipron, and it can be taken any time of day.Eli Lilly announced that its new orforglipron pill led to an average weight loss of up to 27.3 pounds, based on results from the first of two Phase 3 trials involving over 3,100 overweight or obese adults."With orforglipron, we're working to transform obesity care by introducing a potential once-daily oral therapy that could support early intervention and long-term disease management, while offering a convenient alternative to injectable treatments," Kenneth Custer, an executive vice president and president of Lilly Cardiometabolic Health, said in a statement. "With these positive data in hand, we are now planning to submit orforglipron for regulatory review by year-end and are prepared for a global launch to address this urgent public health need."Investors had high hopes that Lilly's pill, orforglipron, would match the effectiveness of Novo Nordisk's blockbuster weight-loss injection, Wegovy . In key trials, Wegovy helped users lose around 14% to 15% of their body weight — slightly below the weight loss seen with Lilly's competing shot, Zepbound.'There was hope that this would be a wonder drug,' BMO analyst Evan Seigerman said of Lilly's pill. 'What this shows to me is that it's still a good drug, but it's bound by the limitations of being a GLP-1.'Eli Lilly said that all adults participating in its Phase 3 trials experienced weight loss while taking orforglipron. Participants on the highest dose—36 mg—lost an average of 27 pounds over 72 weeks, equating to about 12% of their body weight. While this result is significant, it falls slightly short of the weight loss typically seen with some injectable treatments with the drugmaker noticing that about 10% of participants on the highest dose chose to discontinue the pill.Beyond weight loss, trial participants saw improvements in cardiovascular markers, including reductions in systolic blood pressure, non-HDL cholesterol, and triglycerides. Negative side effects were similar in frequency and nature to those observed with injectable GLP-1 medications. The most commonly reported side effects were mild to moderate gastrointestinal issues such as nausea, constipation, indigestion, diarrhea, and vomiting.Eli Lilly is also evaluating orforglipron's effectiveness in adults with Type 2 diabetes. In April, the company shared that the pill may help lower hemoglobin A1C levels—a key indicator of average blood sugar over two to three months—while also supporting weight loss.Eli Lilly aims to seek global regulatory approval for its daily oral orforglipron pill by the end of 2025, positioning itself alongside rival Novo Nordisk, which is pursuing approval for an oral form of its Wegovy (semaglutide) treatment. However, federal health regulators are expected to require more comprehensive data on the drug's safety, tolerability, and effectiveness before moving forward with any potential approval.
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