Lilly pill helps maintain weight loss in trial after switch from popular injections

Adds shares in paragraph 3, analyst comment in paragraph 5

By Christy Santhosh and Sneha S K

Dec 18 (Reuters) - Eli Lilly's LLY.N oral pill helped maintain weight loss in patients switching from its GLP-1 injection, Zepbound, and rival Novo Nordisk's NOVOb.CO Wegovy, it said on Thursday, in a boost to deliver a more convenient obesity treatment option.

An oral weight-loss drug would help Lilly further widen its lead over Novo and strengthen its position in a market that is expected to see several new entrants.

Shares of the company rose 1.3% to $1055.96.

Both Lilly and Novo are awaiting U.S. regulatory approvals for their pills, with a decision on Novo's oral Wegovy expected by December-end and Lilly's orforglipron early next year.

The results build on orforglipron's differentiated profile where added convenience is likely mitigating Novo's narrow timeline advantage, BMO Capital Markets analyst Evan Seigerman said.

ORAL PILL HELPS MAINTAIN WEIGHT LOSS

In the late-stage trial, patients who took orforglipron for 52 weeks, after an initial treatment period of 72 weeks with Wegovy or Zepbound, showed superior weight maintenance compared to those on placebo, Lilly said.

Patients who switched from Wegovy maintained their previously achieved weight loss with an average difference of 0.9 kilograms (kg), while those who switched from Zepbound maintained it with an average difference of 5 kg.

"Orforglipron can be a great option for de-escalating treatment and improving convenience for chronic weight maintenance," Bernstein analyst Courtney Breen said.

The most commonly reported side effects were mild to moderate and gastrointestinal, consistent with previous studies on orforglipron.

Lilly's pill helped patients lose 12.4% of their body weight in a late-stage study. In a separate trial, Novo's pill led to a 16.6% reduction in weight.

Lilly was granted a fast-track voucher for its pill in November as part of a deal with the Trump administration to lower the prices of its weight-loss medicines for government programs and cash-paying patients.

According to a Reuters report, leaders at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration have pressed internally for reviewers to speed up their evaluation of orforglipron, after the company pushed for a faster timeline.

The agency could decide on Lilly's pill as early as March 28 if the new timeline is adopted.

(Reporting by Christy Santhosh and Sneha S K in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva)

((Christy.Santhosh@thomsonreuters.com;))