Eli Lilly: A Game-Changer for Weight Loss Drugs

By: David Ostrowsky

Ever since weight loss drugs have exploded in popularity earlier this decade, consumers across America have been clamoring for the drugs to be less expensive and produced via oral pills. Thanks to recent developments from Eli Lilly and Company, those wishes may soon be granted.

Last month, the Indianapolis-based pharmaceutical company with a vast global reach delivered some encouraging news to patients weary of pricey weekly injections when it announced that it intends to file for approval of its oral weight loss drug, orforglipron, from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat obesity by the end of 2025. If it receives regulatory approval, Lilly claims, the company will be able to bring the pills to market at some point in 2026, likely a year from now. Orforglipron would be a game-changer for millions of cash-strapped Americans struggling with obesity as the drug promises to have a lower sticker price than current weight loss medications that require cumbersome injections, does not require stringent dietary restrictions, and can be consumed at any point in the day. For good measure, the reported side effects—namely nausea, constipation, and diarrhea—while considerable, do not appear to be significantly more amplified than those stemming from injections.

For current and future consumers of weight loss drugs, Eli Lilly’s recently released empirical results following monthslong clinical trials warrant optimism. Late last month, the globally renowned drugmaker reported that, based on the Phase 3 trial study results, consistent intake of its daily oral GLP-1 medication may help people who have obesity and those with Type 2 diabetes lose approximately 23 pounds over 17 months. This development came on the heels of the company’s earlier findings, disseminated in early August, indicating that trial participants who are overweight or have obesity lost an average of 27 pounds or approximately 12.4% of their body weight after taking Lilly’s GLP-1 pill for at least 72 weeks. (While published in mainstream news outlets around the globe, the results have yet to be peer-reviewed or published in a medical journal.) Additionally, the pill was also credited for lowering cholesterol and blood pressure levels and, thus, risk of cardiovascular disease.

Should Eli Lilly’s oral GLP-1 pill be greenlighted in the coming months, it likely won’t be the first of its kind to market. There is indeed a global race to enhance the accessibility of GLP-1 drugs—both from a financial and logistical perspective—and Novo Nordisk, a fierce competitor of Eli Lilly’s, had already sought FDA approval for its very own oral GLP-1 pill (an oral version of its wildly popular weight loss drug Wegovy) before Eli Lilly did, and is also expected to receive a decision by late 2025. By all accounts, Novo Nordisk would receive approval before Eli Lilly does. However, even if Novo Nordisk’s product hits the shelves first, consumers who can patiently wait for Eli Lilly’s weight loss drug may find the latter more appealing. While both drugs effectively mimic the stomach hormone GLP-1 to curb appetite and regulate blood sugar, Novo Nordisk’s pill is a peptide medication whereas orforglipron is a small-molecule drug that can be absorbed more fluidly in the body and doesn’t require the aforementioned strict dietary restrictions. From an accessibility standpoint, the advantage is twofold: because orforglipron projects to be easier to manufacture at scale, there could be a greater supply and potentially lower cost associated with it as compared to Novo Nordisk’s drug.

Regardless of which pharma company comes in first, a viable, less costly alternative weight loss drug option will be a boon for Americans. After all, many health plans in the U.S. don’t cover obesity treatments, leaving millions to stare down imposing, perhaps insurmountable out-of-pocket costs to cover life-changing—in some cases, life-saving—treatment. Surely, if all goes according to plan in 2026, Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk and their shareholders will reap handsome financial rewards, but everyday Americans juggling multiple jobs to make ends meet will be the beneficiaries as well.