Oral Weight-Loss Race Heats Up as New Data From Lilly, Viking Reset Expectations

Oral therapies are projected to account for 25% of the anti-obesity medication market by 2030—but first returns have largely disappointed. This month, shares of both Eli Lilly and Viking Therapeutics took a hit as investors reacted negatively to highly anticipated Phase III and Phase II results for their respective candidates.

While the 9.1% placebo-adjusted weight loss generated by Lilly’s orforglipron over 72 weeks was an efficacy miss by most analyst accounts, tolerability tripped up oral VK2735’s otherwise best-case efficacy scenario—10.9% weight loss after just 13 weeks. These murky results have left observers wondering, just how game-changing these pills will be and which ones will be most effective?

In such a hot space, Lilly’s and Viking’s results—which follow Novo Nordisk’s new drug application for an oral form of Wegovy in May—are only the tip of the iceberg. Stay tuned to BioSpace for further in-depth coverage of the space as we learn which investigational assets will make it across the regulatory finish line and which will join the weight-loss wasteland.