Pharma rivals are piling into weight-loss meds as Americans double down

Pound for pound… Prescription fills for weight-loss drugs including Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy and Eli Lilly Zepbound have more than doubled this year in the US, according to GoodRx. Refills surged even as many Americans still lack insurance coverage for the injections, which cost an average of $1K a month out of pocket. Demand for weight-loss treatments has far outpaced supply with as many as 25K new people starting on the meds weekly.

• Scale wars: Last week, Eli Lilly said its Zepbound injection helped patients lose about 20 pounds more than rival Wegovy after an 18-month trial with 751 participants.

• Heavyweights: Analysts said Zepbound could become the best-selling drug of all time, with $27B in annual sales by 2030, while Wegovy’s expected to bring in nearly $19B.

The Ozempic effect… Drugmakers have raced to ramp up production after a two-year shortage of GLP-1 injections curbed supply. That dearth gave telehealth companies a chance to weigh in with copycats of blockbuster obesity drugs for around $200/month. Shares of Hims & Hers, which began offering compounded GLP-1s in May, have 3x’d this year. But in October the FDA said the shortage was over, which could suppress production of weight-loss dupes. Meantime, pharma pipelines are filled with weight drugs: 

• Heavy R&D: Novo Nordisk is testing an obesity pill that in an early trial beat its injectable drug Wegovy. Last month Amgen said its experimental drug MariTide helped patients shed up to 20% of their weight in a year.