Weight-loss drug developers line up to tap lucrative market as competition heats up
LLY•Drugmakers including Novo Nordisk, Pfizer and Eli Lilly are advancing weight-loss treatments as analysts expect the sector to generate about $100 billion in annual sales in the next decade. Recent trial results include weight loss of up to 23.3% for Lilly’s EloraTZP and 14.5% for Novo’s amycretin in mid-stage studies.
1. A crowded pipeline
Drugmakers are developing injectable and oral weight-loss treatments as they compete in a market analysts expect to generate about $100 billion in annual sales in the next decade. Novo Nordisk CEO Mike Doustdar said in September that pills could capture as much as half of the global obesity-drug market by 2030.
2. Trial results and plans
Novo’s experimental amycretin showed weight loss of up to 14.5% at 36 weeks among patients with type 2 diabetes, while CagriSema produced 22.7% weight loss in one late-stage trial, below the company’s 25% expectation. Lilly said patients with diabetes taking its experimental EloraTZP lost an average 23.3% of body weight over 48 weeks, compared with 14.8% for Zepbound in a mid-stage trial. Pfizer is targeting 2028 for its first approval in the market; its monthly injection PF-3944 produced up to 12.3% weight loss in patients without diabetes at week 28.
3. More candidates advance
Other companies are also reporting results and moving programs forward. Roche’s enicepatide produced average weight loss of 15.5% in a mid-stage trial among patients with type 2 diabetes, and AstraZeneca reported 10.5% weight loss after 26 weeks for its experimental pill elecoglipron. Amgen is conducting six late-stage trials of MariTide across obesity and related conditions.
