Weight-loss drug developers line up to tap lucrative market

Pfizer’s acquisition of biotechnology firm Metsera is expected to speed up its re-entry into the lucrative market for weight-loss treatments, currently dominated by Eli Lilly and Danish rival Novo Nordisk.

Pfizer clinched a $10 billion deal for Metsera at the end of a fierce bidding war with Novo, marking the U.S. drugmaker’s determination to overcome past setbacks and capture a share of the market projected to reach $150 billion by the early 2030s.

Novo has been scrambling to keep pace in the obesity drug race it started, losing ground to rival Eli Lilly and cheaper compounded drugs, which have led to a share slump, CEO change and a board shake-up.

The following is a list of weight-loss drugs in development by Novo, Lilly and other companies chasing the next blockbuster treatment:

PFIZER

Under the terms of the Metsera buyout agreement, Pfizer would gain access to the biotech firm’s obesity drugs, currently in early-to-mid-stage development, including MET-097i, a GLP-1 therapy designed for a once-monthly injection, compared with weekly treatments from Lilly and Novo.

Metsera is also developing MET-233i, a treatment that mimics the pancreatic hormone amylin.

In September, MET-097i demonstrated 14.1% average weight loss after 28 weeks in two mid-stage trials. Metsera plans to begin late-stage trials later this year and develop the drug for use in combination therapies and oral versions.

Pfizer had discontinued the development of two oral GLP-1 drug candidates – lotiglipron in 2023 and danuglipron in 2025 – due to liver safety concerns, leaving it without a viable in-house obesity drug.NOVO NORDISK

The Danish drugmaker is working on several experimental weight-loss drugs, including a pill and a next-generation injection called amycretin, and another drug called CagriSema.

Last year, in an early-stage trial, a daily-pill version of Novo’s amycretin was shown to lead to 13.1% weight loss after just 12 weeks.

The shot version of amycretin helped patients lose 22% of their weight in 36 weeks in an early-mid-stage trial.

CagriSema, touted as a potent successor to Wegovy, showed weaker-than-expected data in two separate late-stage trials. The drug helped overweight patients cut their weight by 22.7% in one of the trials, below Novo’s expectations of 25%.Novo plans to submit CagriSema for regulatory approval in the first quarter of 2026.

In addition to those two, Novo has struck licensing deals for drugs in earlier stages of testing, including the up to $2 billion deal with China-based United Laboratories for its “triple-G” weight-loss drug candidate that targets three hormones.

ELI LILLY

Lilly is advancing its experimental once-weekly amylin-based obesity drug, eloralintide, into late-stage trials in December after it helped patients lose up to 20.1% of their weight a mid-stage study.

In August, the drugmaker said its experimental weight-loss pill, orforglipron, helped overweight adults with type 2 diabetes lose 10.5% of their body weight at the highest 36 mg dose over 72 weeks in a late-stage trial.

Earlier this year, Lilly’s orforglipron helped type 2 diabetes patients lose nearly 8% of their body weight over 40 weeks in a late-stage trial.

That compares favorably with Novo’s injected drug Ozempic. Diabetic patients on the highest dose of Ozempic lost roughly 6% of their body weight.

Lilly expects to seek regulatory approvals for orforglipron by the end of the year.

In 2023, Lilly said a mid-stage trial of its next-generation obesity drug candidate, a weekly injection of retatrutide, led to weight loss of up to 24.2% after 48 weeks.

Lilly signed a deal with China-based biotech Laekna last year to develop an obesity drug that aims to help patients lose weight while preserving muscle.

In August, Lilly signed a deal worth up to $1.3 billion with Superluminal Medicines to discover and develop small-molecule drugs through AI to treat obesity and other cardiometabolic diseases.

ROCHE

In September, Roche said it would advance its experimental obesity drug, CT-388, acquired through its $2.7 billion purchase of Carmot Therapeutics in 2023, into a late-stage trial. Carmot’s once-a-week injection belongs to the same class as Lilly’s Zepbound.

In March, Roche acquired rights to Zealand Pharma’s obesity treatment, petrelintide, in a deal potentially worth up to $5.3 billion.

Last year, the company announced that a second drug candidate from its Carmot purchase yielded positive results in an early-stage trial.

AMGEN

Last year, Amgen’s closely-watched experimental obesity drug MariTide helped overweight patients shed up to 20% of their body weight in a year-long mid-stage trial.

Amgen has said late-stage studies of MariTide will start before mid-year.

Analysts said MariTide’s weight-loss benefit was in line with Wegovy and Zepbound, but with slightly more side effects.

MERCK

Last year, Merck signed a licensing deal worth up to $2 billion for Chinese biotech Hansoh Pharma’s experimental oral drug to treat obesity, becoming a late contender in the race to offer a weight-loss pill to replace weekly shots.

The drug, HS-10535, is a GLP-1 receptor agonist candidate similar to Wegovy and Zepbound.

ASTRAZENECA

AstraZeneca’s experimental weight-loss pill, licensed a year ago from China’s Eccogene for up to $2 billion, was found to be safe and tolerable in an early-stage trial in November 2024.

The drugmaker said it has progressed the once-daily pill, called AZD5004, into mid-stage trials.

VIKING THERAPEUTICS

In August, Viking Therapeutics said its oral weight-loss drug, VK2735, helped patients lose 12.2% of their body weight after 13 weeks in a mid-stage trial of 280 overweight adults, missing Wall Street’s top-end expectations of 15%.

SCHOLAR ROCK

In June, Scholar Rock said its experimental drug, apitegromab, combined with Lilly’s Zepbound, helped patients preserve significantly more lean mass in a mid-stage trial.

In Scholar Rock’s study, patients who received a combination of tirzepatide – the active ingredient in Zepbound – and Scholar’s apitegromab lost 3.4 pounds of lean mass after 24 weeks, compared with those on tirzepatide alone, who lost 7.6 pounds of lean mass.

ALTIMMUNE

Altimmune’s experimental obesity drug, pemvidutide, helped reduce weight by 15.6% on average and showed continued weight loss at the end of treatment in a mid-stage trial in 2023.

Patients, however, also experienced nausea and vomiting of mild and moderate severity.

ZEALAND PHARMA

Danish biotech Zealand Pharma said last year a high dose of its weight-loss drug candidate petrelintide helped reduce weight by an average of 8.6% after 16 weekly doses in an early-stage study.

The company said in August 2024 that it was set to start talks with other pharmaceutical companies in the second half of this year for potential partnerships to develop and commercialize petrelintide.

STRUCTURE THERAPEUTICS

Structure Therapeutics said last year its experimental oral obesity drug helped reduce weight by 6.2% on average at the end of 12 weeks in a mid-stage study.