Key facts
- Novo Nordisk's CagriSema showed an estimated average weight loss of 12.4% in a late-stage trial for patients with diabetes.
- The drug outperformed Eli Lilly's rival drug, tirzepatide, in the trial.
- Novo Nordisk filed a marketing application for potential US approval of CagriSema in December.
- Analysts expect the weight-loss sector to generate about $100 billion in annual sales in the next decade.
- Eli Lilly's next-generation obesity drug retatrutide helped patients lose more than 28% of their weight over a year and a half in a key trial.
Novo Nordisk's experimental weight-loss drug CagriSema demonstrated an average weight loss of 12.4% in a late-stage trial involving patients with diabetes, a result that outperformed Eli Lilly's rival drug, tirzepatide. The company filed a marketing application for CagriSema in the US in December.
The broader weight-loss drug market is experiencing rapid growth, with analysts projecting annual sales to reach approximately $100 billion within the next decade. This competitive landscape sees major pharmaceutical companies like Novo Nordisk, Eli Lilly, Pfizer, Roche, Amgen, and Merck vying for market share.
Eli Lilly's own pipeline includes promising candidates, with its next-generation obesity drug retatrutide showing a significant reduction in weight, exceeding 28% over eighteen months in a key trial. Lilly also secured US approval for its oral weight-loss pill orforglipron in April, and its Foundayo pill received approval in Britain in August.
Other companies are also advancing their weight-loss therapies. Pfizer is targeting a 2028 approval for its monthly obesity injection, while Roche acquired Carmot Therapeutics to bolster its experimental obesity drug pipeline. Amgen is conducting late-stage trials for its drug MariTide, and Merck has signed a licensing deal for an oral obesity drug candidate from Chinese biotech Hansoh Pharma.