Eli Lilly rises after weight-loss pill succeeds in trials
Eli Lilly’s once-daily weight-loss pill, orforglipron, succeeded in early trials with results similar to popular GLP-1 injections on the market now, bolstering the company’s lead in the race to make the next weight-loss drug.
Patients on orforglipron lost 16 pounds on average, or 7.9% of their body weight, which is roughly in line with the results for patients on Ozempic. Lilly rose 15% in midday trading on the news and Novo Nordisk, which makes Ozempic and Wegovy, fell 7%.
“Sema-who?” wrote analysts at Deutsche Bank, referring to semaglutide, the active ingredient in Ozempic and Wegovy. The bank also raised its price target for Lilly to $1,010 from $734.90.
The news comes after Pfizer announced this week that it would drop its weight-loss pill after it was found to cause liver damage. In March, Novo reported results from its next-generation GLP-1 jab that were not much better than the products it already sells. Amgen, which is trying to develop a new GLP-1 treatment, recently embarked on late-stage trials after disappointing early results.
