Weight loss drug news

• June 8, 26: Eli Lilly (NYSE:LLY)'s Foundayo (orforglipron), the only oral GLP-1 taken without food or water restrictions, was associated with significant weight loss in women at every stage of menopause
• June 8, 26: Novo Nordisk reports positive Phase 3 CagriSema data across REIMAGINE diabetes studies, showing investigational once-weekly CagriSema achieved significant reductions in HbA1c and body weight in adults with type 2 diabetes across multiple treatment settings.
• June 8, 26: Novo Nordisk reports Wegovy pill prescriptions surpass 3 mln in U.S. since its January launch, with more than 80% of prescriptions coming from patients new to GLP-1 therapy.

• Co said the oral obesity drug reached 1 mln prescriptions in its first 12 weeks and added another 2 mln prescriptions over the following 10 weeks, making it one of the strongest U.S. pharmaceutical launches by volume.
• May 28, 26: France has become the first EU nation to reimburse weight loss medications, including blockbuster GLP-1s from Novo Nordisk (NVO) and Eli Lilly (LLY), with coverage limited to severe obesity, Health Minister Stephanie Rist said. 
• Under the coverage decision taking effect in mid-June, France's social security system will cover weight-loss meds, including Novo’s (NVO) Wegovy and Lilly’s (LLY) Mounjaro, when used in severely obese patients.
• May 12, 26: Eli Lilly (NYSE:LLY) announced late-phase trial results showing that Foundayo (orforglipron) and lower-dose Zepbound effectively maintain weight loss after patients switch from higher-dose injectables. The company’s ATTAIN-MAINTAIN study indicated that patients transitioning from Wegovy or Zepbound to oral Foundayo maintained most of their initial weight loss after one year.  Similarly, the SURMOUNT-MAINTAIN trial showed that reducing Zepbound to 5 mg or continuing at the maximum tolerated dose will result in durable long-term weight maintenance. These findings were published in The Lancet and Nature Medicine and point to new flexible options for chronic obesity management while minimizing weight regain during the transition from one treatment to another.
• Novo Nordisk -- Eli Lilly's biggest rival -- has already requested approval for its next-gen therapy, CagriSema, which could launch by the end of the year, pending approval. Novo Nordisk is also running phase 3 studies for a candidate called Amycretin.
• Viking Therapeutics'(VKTX) leading weight-loss candidate, VK2735, is a GLP-1 medicine being developed in both oral and subcutaneous formulations. Last year, the company completed phase 2 studies for the oral version. Oral VK2735 led to a mean weight loss of up to 12.2% at the highest dose in 13 weeks. The company also stated that no weight-loss plateau was observed. This is a phenomenal performance over such a short period.
• May 1, 26: GoodRx (GDRX) partners with Novo Nordisk to offer self-pay access to new oral Ozempic pill starting at $149 per month.
• May 1, 26:  FDA proposes removing semaglutide, liraglutide from 503B bulk compounding list, potentially curbing copycat GLP-1 versions. Proposal could limit lower-cost compounded GLP-1 copies and support demand for Novo Nordisk's branded semaglutide and liraglutide.
• May 1, 26:  Novo Nordisk A/S announces that starting Monday, May 4, Ozempic tablets 1.5 mg, 4 mg, and 9 mg will be available for adults with type 2 diabetes in the US.  Ozempic pill is the only oral GLP-1 medicine approved for both primary and secondary cardiovascular risk reduction of heart attack, stroke, and death in adults with type 2 diabetes at high risk for these events, including those with known heart disease.
• Feb 23, 26: Eli Lilly launched a new form of its blockbuster obesity drug, Zepbound, that offers a month’s worth of doses in a single pen.   Cash-paying patients can get the multi-dose device, called KwikPen, on the company’s direct-to-consumer website, LillyDirect. Prices start at $299 per month for the lowest dose level.   The KwikPen is already used for other drugs, such as Lilly’s popular diabetes medication, Mounjaro. 
• Dec 22, 2025:  The FDA has approved the first-ever GLP-1 pill from Novo Nordisk. Novo Nordisk said the starting dose of 1.5 milligrams will be available in early January in pharmacies and via select telehealth providers with savings offers for $149 per month.  
• That’s the same price that cash-paying patients can access the starting dose of the pill on President Donald Trump’s direct-to-consumer website, TrumpRx, under a deal Novo Nordisk struck with his administration last month. Trump’s site also launches in January.  The approval gives Novo Nordisk a head start over chief rival Eli Lilly, which is racing to launch its own obesity pill.
• Dec 18, 2025:  Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk — the dominant players in obesity drug development — each submitted a new weight-loss drug to the FDA for approval today.

Eli Lilly’s (LLY) drug is called orforglipron. It is a pill that’s taken daily and has shown 12.4% average weight loss. The drugmaker also shared new data that demonstrate orforglipron helped patients maintain their weight loss for a year compared to placebo, and after switching from Zepbound, its weight-loss injection, or Wegovy, Novo’s competing weight-loss injection.

Novo Nordisk’s (NVO) next-gen medication is called CagriSema. It’s a once-weekly shot that combines a long-acting amylin analogue and Wegovy. Clinical trials found that patients taking CagriSema lose an average of 20.4% of their weight after 68 weeks, compared to 3.0% on placebo.

CagriSema would be the first combo GLP-1 if it’s approved, while orforglipron would be the first GLP-1 pill approved for weight loss. Oral GLP-1s like Lilly’s Trulicity and Novo’s Rybelsus have been on the market for about 10 years, though they are only approved to treat people with Type 2 diabetes.

Though Novo was the first to bring a GLP-1 for obesity to market, Lilly is viewed as the market leader, both in sales performance and strategic dealmaking for its products. Its stock is up about 34% for the year, while Novo’s shares have tumbled 45%.

• Dec 11, 2025: Eli Lilly (LLY): experimental "triple G" delivered the best weight loss thus far in a clinical study.  Retatrutide works by mimicking a trio of hormones — GLP-1, GIPR and glucagon — to curb hunger signals and improve blood sugar levels. In a Phase 3 study, patients with obesity and osteoarthritis of the knee, but not type 2 diabetes, lost up to 28.7% of their body weight after 68 weeks.
• Retatrutide is the most effective weight-loss drug so far, producing 28.3% weight loss in people who are obese or overweight over about a year and a half, according to new data released Saturday at the American Diabetes Association’s annual meeting in New Orleans. 

The results top the 22.5% reduction seen with Lilly's tirzepatide in a 72-week study. Tirzepatide, which sells under the brands Mounjaro and Zepbound for diabetes and weight loss, mimics GLP-1 and GIPR.

There are likely three future categories for weight-loss drugs: low weight loss, mid weight loss and "super high weight loss." Retatrutide likely fits into the last group. Tirzepatide "rules supreme" in the mid weight-loss category, with oral drugs likely to fill the low weight-loss space.

In additional secondary endpoints, retatrutide reduced known markers of cardiovascular risk, including non-HDL cholesterol, triglycerides, and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP), and at the highest dose lowered systolic blood pressure by 14.0 mmHg, using the efficacy estimand.4 In an additional post-hoc analysis, 14.1% of patients on retatrutide 9 mg and 12.0% patients on retatrutide 12 mg were completely free of knee pain at 68 weeks compared to 4.2% on placebo, based on the observed efficacy estimand data.