{"id":17056,"date":"2025-08-19T15:04:05","date_gmt":"2025-08-19T15:04:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=17056"},"modified":"2025-08-19T15:04:05","modified_gmt":"2025-08-19T15:04:05","slug":"pharma-giants-compete-to-release-the-first-weight-loss-pill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=17056","title":{"rendered":"Pharma giants compete to release the first weight-loss pill"},"content":{"rendered":"
Makers of weight-loss drugs are expected to rake in more than $150 billion in revenue by the early 2030s, thanks to the ever-growing popularity of Eli Lilly\u2019s Zepbound and Novo Nordisk’s \u00a0Wegovy.<\/p>\n

The GLP-1 drugs sold by both companies are weekly injections, although several drugmakers are racing to develop an oral medicine or pill that might prove to be as effective as the injectables.<\/p>\n

August 19 – Makers of weight-loss drugs are expected to rake in more than $150 billion in revenue by the early 2030s, thanks to the ever-growing popularity of Eli Lilly’s\u00a0 Zepbound and Novo Nordisk’s\u00a0 Wegovy.<\/p>\n

The GLP-1 drugs sold by both companies are weekly injections, although several drugmakers are racing to develop an oral medicine or pill that might prove to be as effective as the injectables.<\/p>\n

Pills are easier to manufacture and could also avoid some of the supply issues that were initially seen with Novo and Lilly’s drugs.<\/p>\n

Here are some companies developing oral obesity drugs in the hopes of making their mark in a lucrative market:<\/p>\n

Eli Lilly<\/p>\n

Orforglipron, the company’s once-daily oral non-peptide GLP-1 agonist, helped patients shed 12.4% of body weight over 72 weeks at the highest dose in a late-stage trial. Lilly plans to file for regulatory approval by the end of 2025 and is preparing for global submissions and manufacturing scale-up.<\/p>\n

Novo Nordisk<\/p>\n

Oral semaglutide, a pill version of the company’s injectable GLP-1 active ingredient, demonstrated about 15% weight loss in a late-stage trial.<\/p>\n

The drug is currently under regulatory review, with a U.S. FDA decision expected in late 2025. Novo is also exploring next-generation oral combinations.<\/p>\n

Structure therapeutics<\/p>\n

Structure Therapeutics is developing GSBR-1290, a non-peptide oral GLP-1 agonist. Last year, the drug helped reduce weight by 6.2% on average at the end of 12 weeks in a mid-stage study. It is expected to report results from another mid-stage trial in the fourth quarter.<\/p>\n

Merck<\/p>\n

The company, in partnership with Hansoh Pharma, is preparing to test HS-10535, an oral small-molecule GLP-1 agonist, in early-stage trials. The drug is currently being tested in lab studies.<\/p>\n

Astrazeneca<\/p>\n

AstraZeneca and Eccogene are advancing ECC5004, a once-daily GLP-1 receptor agonist pill. Early stage trial showed a promising weight-loss signal and a favorable safety profile, with mid stage trials planned under AstraZeneca’s lead.<\/p>\n

Researchers in London have developed a dental treatment using keratin, a protein found in hair, skin, and wool, that they say can repair damaged tooth enamel.<\/p>\n

Roche<\/p>\n

Roche, following its acquisition of Carmot Therapeutics, is working on CT-966, an oral GLP-1 agonist. CT-966 resulted in a placebo-adjusted average weight loss of 6.1% within four weeks in obese patients without diabetes in an early-stage trial last year.<\/p>\n

Viking therapeutics <\/p>\n

The company is developing an oral formulation of VK2735, which targets both GLP-1 and GIP hormones that regulate the body’s metabolism.<\/p>\n

In a mid-stage study of 280 overweight adults with at least one obesity-related comorbidity, the pill achieved up to 12.2% mean weight loss over 13 weeks, compared with placebo.<\/p>\n

Pfizer <\/p>\n

Pfizer was developing danuglipron, initially as a twice-daily oral GLP-1 agonist, but scrapped development after data from a mid-stage trial showed poor tolerability. A once-daily extended-release version was later tested in about 1,400 patients but liver safety concerns remained, dampening the company’s plans to enter the obesity drug market.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Makers of weight-loss drugs are expected to rake in more than $150 billion in revenue by the early 2030s, thanks to the ever-growing popularity of Eli Lilly\u2019s Zepbound and Novo Nordisk’s \u00a0Wegovy. The GLP-1 drugs sold by both companies are weekly injections, although several drugmakers are racing to develop an oral medicine or pill that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17056","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17056","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17056"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17056\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17056"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17056"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17056"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}