Key facts
- Eli Lilly's experimental pill, orforglipron, showed greater weight loss than Novo Nordisk's oral semaglutide in a year-long trial.
- Orforglipron lowered weight by an average of 10.5% in initial tests.
- Novo Nordisk is developing a higher-dose oral semaglutide formulation (25 mg) for weight management, known as the Wegovy pill.
- In trials, the Wegovy pill resulted in an average weight loss of 16.6% over 64 weeks.
- Both companies are moving toward global regulatory submissions for their oral GLP-1 medications.
Drugmakers Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk are developing oral versions of their popular GLP-1 medications, aiming to make treatments for diabetes and obesity more accessible and convenient.
Eli Lilly's experimental pill, orforglipron, has shown promising results in trials, outperforming Novo Nordisk's oral semaglutide in terms of weight loss. In initial tests, orforglipron lowered weight by an average of 10.5%, compared to 2.2% with a placebo. A year-long trial indicated that at the highest dose, orforglipron led to an average weight loss of 9.2% (about 19.7 lbs), while semaglutide resulted in 5.3% (about 11 lbs). When considering all participants, Lilly's pill achieved an 8.2% weight loss versus 5.3% for semaglutide.
Novo Nordisk is also advancing a pill version of its weight-loss medication Wegovy. This higher-dose oral semaglutide formulation (25 mg) is specifically designed for weight management. Research from the OASIS-4 trial indicated that participants taking the Wegovy pill lost approximately 16.6% of their body weight over 64 weeks, compared to 2.7% with a placebo, with about one-third of participants losing 20% or more.
These oral GLP-1 medications are seen as the next generation of weight-loss drugs, addressing barriers such as the need for injections and potentially improving efficacy. Both companies are reportedly moving with urgency toward global regulatory submissions to meet patient demand. While Ozempic is primarily for Type-2 diabetes, Mounjaro (tirzepatide) can be prescribed for weight loss, and the new pill versions aim to offer similar benefits in a more convenient form.