Lilly soars on first data for oral obesity candidate

Shares in Eli Lilly rose sharply in pre-market trading today after the company reported the first phase 3 results for orforglipron, a GLP-1 agonist that it hopes will offer an oral alternative to current injectable drugs for obesity.

The results from the ACHIEVE-1 study – one of seven phase 3 trials of orforglipron – was designed to show the drug's potential as a treatment for type 2 diabetes, but gave a glimpse of its weight-loss potential as well.

The once-daily pill lowered haemoglobin A1c, a marker for blood glucose control, by an average of 1.3% to 1.6% across doses tested, whilst achieving a 7.9% reduction in average body weight at the highest dose tested after 40 weeks.

Moreover, participants had not yet reached a weight plateau at the time the study ended, suggesting that full weight reduction had not been reached.

The safety and tolerability profile of orforglipron in ACHIEVE-1 was consistent with injectable GLP-1 therapies, added the company.

"Orforglipron is the first oral small molecule […] GLP-1 receptor agonist, taken without food and water restrictions, to successfully complete a phase 3 trial," said Lilly in a statement, adding that it is preparing to file the drug as a weight-loss treatment later this year and for diabetes in 2026.

Chief executive David Ricks said the company has the manufacturing capacity to produce orforglipron at scale, without the supply constraints that have affected some of its other GLP-1 products, and is looking forward to "additional data readouts later this year."

Those include the results of the ATTAIN study in overweight or obese adults with weight-related comorbidities like high blood pressure, high cholesterol, heart disease, and obstructive sleep apnoea.

Lilly and others are trying to develop oral therapies to complement current drugs – Novo Nordisk's Wegovy (semaglutide) and Lilly's dual GIP/GLP-1 agonist Zepbound (tirzepatide) – which are given by weekly injection.

The encouraging orforglipron results come just a few days after one of Lilly's rivals in the race to develop oral GLP-1 drugs for obesity, Pfizer, abandoned development of its danuglipron candidate after seeing a safety signal in clinical trials.

Rival companies trying to develop oral weight-loss candidates include Novo Nordisk, which has an oral formulation of semaglutide in late-stage development and another called amycretin in phase 1, as well as Roche, Amgen, AstraZeneca, amongst others.

For Lilly, orforglipron could also complement its injectable formulation of tirzepatide for diabetes – Mounjaro – and injectable GLP-1 agonist Trulicity (dulaglutide).

Shares in Lilly were up nearly 12% in pre-market trading at the time of writing.