Zepbound found to work better than Wegovy

Market is booming for new obesity drugs

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Eli Lilly & Co's obesity drug Zepbound helped people trim about two inches more off their waists than Novo Nordisk A/S’s Wegovy in the first head-to-head study of the rival medicines.

Zepbound won on all measures of effectiveness in a trial presented Monday at an obesity conference, spurring an average of 47% more weight loss over 72 weeks.

Lilly, which funded the research, is leapfrogging Novo in the booming market for powerful new obesity medicines. The impact on waistlines is crucial because they are a surrogate measure for the dangerous fat that gets stored around organs in the abdomen.

Novo shares fell as much as 8.6% in Copenhagen trading, more than other drugmakers after US President Donald Trump said he plans to order a cut in US prescription drug costs. The stock has struggled this year, losing about a third of its value.

The study findings could influence prescribing decisions, said Louis Aronne, the NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital physician and Cornell University professor who led the study.

"It's been shown that a five-centimetre (2-inch) difference could reduce blood pressure and other metabolic parameters," Mr Aronne said. Patients lost an average of 18.4 centimetres around their waists on Zepbound and 13 centimetres on Wegovy.