Pharma Giants Join Race for Weight-Loss Pill
By Reuters | 06 Mar, 2026

The success of Novo Nordisk's GLP-1 pills to combat obesity is driving virtually every major drug company in the world toward the holy grail of a less expensive pill.

The global weight-loss drug market is entering a new phase, driven by the arrival of oral options, looming generic rivals and falling U.S. prices for blockbuster treatments from Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk.

The fast-changing landscape has prompted Wall Street to rethink long-held forecasts of a $150 billion market within the next decade.

Novo became the first company to launch a GLP-1 pill for obesity, giving the Danish drugmaker a competitive edge in the fast-evolving obesity treatment market.

Here are some companies racing to develop oral obesity drugs in the hopes of making their mark in a lucrative market: 

ELI LILLY

Orforglipron, the company's once-daily oral non-peptide GLP-1 agonist, helped overweight adults without diabetes lose 12.4% of their body weight over 72 weeks at the highest dose in a late-stage trial.

In another study, orforglipron helped maintain weight loss in patients switching from its GLP-1 injection, Zepbound, and rival Novo Nordisk's Wegovy. 

The company is preparing to launch orforglipron in the U.S. as early as the second quarter of ​this year, pending approval from the ⁠Food and Drug Administration. 

STRUCTURE THERAPEUTICS 

Structure Therapeutics is developing GSBR-1290, a non-peptide oral GLP-1 agonist. The pill showed weight loss of up to 11.3% after 36 weeks of treatment in a mid-stage study of 230 people. 

Structure plans to start late-stage development of the pill by mid-2026 after a meeting with the FDA in the first half of next year.

MERCK 

The company, in partnership with Hansoh Pharma, is preparing to test HS-10535, an oral small-molecule GLP-1 agonist, in early stage trials. The drug is currently undergoing lab studies. 

ASTRAZENECA 

AstraZeneca and Eccogene are advancing ECC5004, a once-daily GLP-1 receptor agonist pill. Early-stage trial showed a promising weight-loss signal and a favorable safety profile, with mid-stage trials planned under AstraZeneca's lead. 

ROCHE 

Roche, following its acquisition of Carmot Therapeutics, is working on CT-966, an oral GLP-1 agonist. CT-966 resulted in a placebo-adjusted average weight loss of 6.1% within four weeks in obese patients without diabetes in an early-stage trial last year.

VIKING THERAPEUTICS 

The company is developing an oral formulation of VK2735, which targets both GLP-1 and GIP hormones that regulate the body's metabolism. 

In a mid-stage study, the experimental weight-loss pill helped patients lose 12.2% of their body weight, missing Wall Street's top-end expectations of 15%. 

PFIZER 

Pfizer entered the lucrative obesity drug market with its $10 billion acquisition of obesity drug developer Metsera after a fierce bidding war with Novo.

The drugmaker gained access to two oral, long-acting GLP-1 drugs as part of the deal, which are currently being tested in preclinical trials.

Pfizer and Chinese partner Sciwind Biosciences secured approval for their once-weekly weight-loss injection, Xianweiying, in China, adding pressure on approved rivals from Novo, Lilly and Innovent Biologics.

Pfizer was developing danuglipron, initially as a twice-daily oral GLP-1 agonist, but scrapped development after data from a mid-stage trial showed poor tolerability.

Innovent Biologics 

China-based Innovent Biologics' oral GLP-1 weight-loss drug, IBI3032, is being tested in early-stage trials in the U.S. and China. 

HuaDong Pharmaceutical

China-based HuaDong Pharmaceutical's oral obesity drug candidate, HDM1002, reduced body weight by up to 6.8% in an early-stage study of overweight or obese participants in China.

Ascletis Pharma 

China-based Ascletis Pharma's experimental oral GLP-1 drug, ASC30, showed weight-loss of up to 7.7% in a mid-stage study in the U.S.

(Reporting by Bhanvi Satija, Mrinalika Roy , Padmanabhan Ananthan, Mariam Sunny and Sneha S K in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)