SHANGHAI, Nov 12 (Reuters) – China has approved Eli Lilly’s weight-loss pill orforglipron, the country’s medicine regulator said on Thursday, giving the drugmaker a leg up on Danish rival Novo Nordisk in the world’s second-largest pharmaceutical market.
Lilly’s pill will compete for market share in China with the once-weekly GLP-1 weight-loss injections from Novo, Pfizer, and local firm Innovent Biologics, as the country’s National Health Commission has said the rate of overweight or obese people could reach more than 65% by 2030.
Novo and Lilly believe weight-loss pills could attract patients reluctant to use injections, although Novo’s own oral Wegovy has not yet been approved in China. Lilly was first to apply with orforglipron.
(Reporting by Andrew Silver; additional reporting from Beijing newsroom; Editing by Christian Schmollinger)
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