Eli Lilly CEO expects new weight loss pill to be approved next year

Eli Lilly expects its experimental weight loss pill will get approved as soon as early next year, CEO David Ricks told Bloomberg TV on Monday.

The company is set to release key late-stage trial data on the drug, orforglipron, by the middle of this year.

Eli Lilly is pushing to get the pill to market as it competes with Novo Nordisk and smaller rivals for a major share of the booming weight loss drug market. Eli Lilly’s Zepbound and Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy dominate the space, but the drugmakers and their competitors have been working to develop improved versions of the drugs.

Pills would be more convenient for patients than the current injectable forms. They would also be easier to manufacture at a time when Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk have struggled to make enough drugs to keep up with spiking demand.

Eli Lilly has said orforglipron helped patients lose up to 14.7% of their weight in a mid-stage trial, compared with 2.3% among people who took a placebo.

Eli Lilly shares were down less than 1% in afternoon trading Monday.