Obesity
Novo Nordisk’s oral Wegovy has a few months’ head start on Eli Lilly’s newly approved pill. While the Indianapolis pharma has come from behind the Danish rival in the weight loss space before, last time it clearly had the better drug.
The approval of Eli Lilly’s oral obesity drug officially ignites an intense competition with Novo Nordisk’s oral Wegovy; Gilead Sciences and Neurocrine Biosciences keep the M&A train chugging; Trump hits pharma with his long promised tariffs, and the FDA proposes many changes with 2027 budget.
After Eli Lilly achieved the milestone approval of the weight loss pill Foundayo, Novo Nordisk launched a full-court press to defend oral Wegovy, which has been enjoying a record-breaking launch since January.
The FDA approved Eli Lilly’s orforglipron—to be known as Foundayo—on Wednesday, officially igniting what analysts believe will be a fierce rivalry with Novo Nordisk’s oral Wegovy.
While peptides are currently the dominant approach to GLP-1 agonism, Ambrosia Biosciences is pursuing a small-molecule approach.
The FDA has some big verdicts lined up in the second quarter, including one for a closely watched obesity drug that many anticipate will further intensify competition in weight loss.
While participants on a lower dose of Wave Life Sciences’ RNA therapy lost 5.3% total fat at the six-month mark, those receiving the higher dose saw a less than 1% drop at three months.
This year’s catalysts in the space include a near-term FDA decision on Eli Lilly’s oral challenger to the new Wegovy pill. Looking further ahead, Novo Nordisk is expecting more clinical data for next-gen weight loss asset CagriSema, which recently lost a head-to-head battle with Lilly’s Zepbound.
Aardvark Therapeutics’ obesity asset is based on its lead molecule, which in February was linked to reversible heart safety signals in a healthy volunteer study.
At its peak, Imcivree’s sales in hypothalamic obesity could reach over $2 billion worldwide, according to analysts at Stifel.
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