Eli Lilly(LLY.US)'s new weight loss drug approved by the FDA, marking the start of the "oral era" in the weight loss market

Zhitong Finance APP learned that Eli Lilly’s (LLY.US) share price rose more than 5% on Wednesday. Previously, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the company’s new weight-loss pill. Lilly said the pill can be taken “at any time during the day, and is not restricted by food or drinking water.”

Lilly’s orforglipron drug, branded as Foundayo, is intended to help overweight or obese adults lose weight. In a statement, Lilly said the pill is taken once daily and will begin shipping on April 6 . Shortly thereafter, the pill will be sold through U.S. retail pharmacies and telehealth service providers.

Lilly CEO David Ricks said: “As a convenient, once-daily, oral pill that can produce significant weight-loss effects, it is an obesity care solution designed for the real world.”

Lilly and Novo Nordisk have been locked in a long battle for control of the highly profitable weight-loss drug market. Over the past two years, competition between the two companies has shifted from injectables to pill forms, because pill formats offer patients a lower barrier.

Novo Nordisk’s Rybelsus is the first oral semaglutide treatment drug approved by the FDA. In December last year, the FDA also approved Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy pills for weight loss.

Although clinical trial results show that injectable weight-loss drugs remain the “gold standard” in terms of efficacy, both Lilly and Novo Nordisk have already leaned toward pill formulations.

Results for Lilly’s new Foundayo pills showed that participants lost 11.1% of their body weight, while the company’s injectable Zepbound had an average weight loss effect of 20.2%.

For Novo Nordisk, results for the pill version of Wegovy showed participants lost about 14% of their body weight, while the injectable version of Wegovy produced a weight-loss result of 15%.