Reported by Consejeros Editorial Team
The global market for obesity drugs is entering a new phase of expansion outside the United States, driven by Eli Lilly, which is seeking to broaden access to its flagship treatments in the face of the US market’s increasing saturation.
Bloomberg Intelligence estimates that global sales of obesity drugs will exceed $120 billion by 2030, with Eli Lilly positioning itself as the main beneficiary.
For its part, Novo Nordisk is attempting to regain market leadership, which it lost to Lilly’s Zepbound injection, through the pill-form version of Wegovy. So far, prescriptions for the drug in the US have exceeded three million since it became available in January, with the majority of users entering the obesity treatment category for the first time.
Morgan Stanley analyst Thibault Boutherin, who specialises in the pharmaceutical sector, maintains his preference for Eli Lilly over Novo Nordisk as “Lilly’s Zepbound and Mounjaro (tirzepatide) have demonstrated superiority over semaglutide in type 2 diabetes and obesity, whilst Novo Nordisk is beginning to face competition from generics”.
Eli Lilly’s strategy centres on Foundayo, a new obesity pill for which approval has already been sought in some 40 countries. Lilly aims to capitalise on the ease of administration and production capacity of oral treatments to accelerate global adoption.
According to Lilly, only between 1% and 2% of people who could benefit from these drugs currently use them. This opportunity is particularly significant in emerging markets, where obesity rates continue to rise.
