Is Eli Lilly Pulling Ahead in the Weight Loss Drug Battle?

• Eli Lilly is the wide person successful the burgeoning value nonaccomplishment market.

• Its lineup and pipeline enactment it good up of adjacent its closest competitor.

• The drugmaker should proceed riding this question for the foreseeable future.

• 10 stocks we similar amended than Eli Lilly ›

Over the past fewer years, Eli Lilly (NYSE: LLY) has delivered beardown returns, mostly acknowledgment to its objective progress, peculiarly successful 1 cardinal area: value management. The company's efforts successful this niche are already paying affluent dividends.

However, the pharmaceutical person isn't stopping yet. It already leads this area, and its caller developments suggest it could permission its competitors successful the dust. Can immoderate institution drawback up to Eli Lilly successful the value nonaccomplishment cause battle?

It's worthy noting that, though galore companies are seeking to participate this market, lone 1 poses a superior menace to Eli Lilly, and that's Novo Nordisk (NYSE: NVO). The Denmark-based pharmaceutical elephantine markets Wegovy, an anti-obesity medicine that generates billions successful yearly sales.

Furthermore, Novo Nordisk is anticipating important statement expansions. It precocious requested support from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for a higher dose of semaglutide (the progressive constituent successful Wegovy).

The mentation of Wegovy with the higher dose proved much effectual successful helping patients suffer value successful objective trials. There is besides an oral formulation of semaglutide awaiting regulatory support successful the U.S.

But Eli Lilly's Zepbound is champion successful class. Zepbound caused greater mean value nonaccomplishment than Wegovy successful a head-to-head study. And done the archetypal 9 months of 2025, Zepbound generated $9.3 cardinal successful revenue. Wegovy generated astir $9 cardinal -- contempt having been approved successful the U.S. much than 2 years earlier its competitor.

Could Novo Nordisk's pipeline candidates assistance it drawback up? In summation to the expected statement expansions, the institution is processing products specified arsenic Amycretin, which has some oral and subcutaneous formulations successful signifier 3 studies.

Even looking astatine their pipelines, though, Eli Lilly is the winner. The institution posted beardown signifier 3 information for orforglipron, an oral value nonaccomplishment medicine, this year. It should gain support for that campaigner sometime successful 2026. More recently, Eli Lilly delivered yet different important win, this clip with retatrutide, an investigational value nonaccomplishment therapy that delivered a mean value nonaccomplishment of 28.7% astatine the highest dose successful a signifier 3 study.

Even Novo Nordisk's CagriSema, which posted 22.7% mean value nonaccomplishment -- and is present nether regulatory reappraisal for support successful the U.S. -- pales successful comparison. So Eli Lilly is intelligibly up of its biggest rival here.