Eli Lilly cites new comparison showing Zepbound tops Wegovy HD on weight loss
The Sept 29 analysis compares Zepbound's two doses with semaglutide's 7.2 mg formulation, a different comparison from the head-to-head trial that produced Lilly's widely cited weight-loss figures.
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Eli Lilly said Tuesday that a new indirect treatment comparison found its obesity drug Zepbound produced more weight loss than Novo Nordisk's Wegovy HD, the 7.2 mg version of semaglutide, according to a company release.
That comparison is separate from SURMOUNT-5, the head-to-head trial that first produced the 20.2% and 13.7% weight-loss figures often cited for Zepbound and Wegovy at 72 weeks, according to FirstWord Pharma. That trial, presented at the European Congress on Obesity and published in the New England Journal of Medicine, tested a different, lower dose of Wegovy than the one used in Tuesday's analysis, according to StockTitan. Eli Lilly's release did not include specific percentage figures for the new comparison.
The release comes days after Novo Nordisk reported that its drug cagrisema showed a weight-loss advantage in the Reimagine 5 trial, and after a real-world study presented at the European Association for the Study of Diabetes found that Novo's 2 mg semaglutide was linked to a 6% lower risk of serious cardiovascular events than Eli Lilly's tirzepatide in adults with type 2 diabetes.
Investors have treated Eli Lilly's weight-loss margin over Wegovy as the foundation of its edge in the obesity-drug market, a lead that has helped it capture 70% of new GLP-1 prescriptions among older patients this year. Tuesday's comparison keeps the argument centered on weight loss rather than the cardiovascular ground Novo has been trying to shift it to, even though the numbers behind Lilly's original claim date to an earlier trial rather than a new one.