Eli Lilly’s Experimental Weight-Loss Pill Shows Rapid Results in Study

Eli Lilly & Co.’s experimental weight-loss pill helped patients shed pounds quickly in a mid-stage trial, setting the stage for competition to heat up with rivals such as Novo Nordisk A/S that make obesity drugs.

Lilly’s oral drug, orforglipron, produced an average loss of about 15% of a person’s body weight in 36 weeks when given daily at the highest dose to adults with obesity, according to a mid-stage study published Friday in the New England Journal of Medicine. A pill containing semaglutide, the active ingredient in Novo’s Wegovy shot, produced similar results in a late stage that was almost twice as long.