Eli Lilly's weight loss drug tirzepatide gets approval in China

[July 20, 2024]  By Andrew Silver

SHANGHAI (Reuters) -Eli Lilly said in a social media post Friday its weight loss drug tirzepatide had received approval from Chinese regulators, further intensifying competition with its Danish rival Novo Nordisk in the key Asian market.

Shares of the drugmaker rose 1.6% to $862.39 in midday trading.

Novo's weight loss drug Wegovy won approval from China, the world's second-largest economy and the country estimated to hold the highest number of overweight or obese people, in June in a move that sent its share price soaring.

A spokesperson for Eli Lilly did not immediately respond to a request for comment on when its own drug's sales would begin in China or how many doses would be supplied. Tirzepatide is the active ingredient in the U.S. firm's diabetes drug Mounjaro, also approved in China, and weight-loss drug Zepbound.

Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk are racing to increase production in a weight-loss market estimated to reach at least $100 billion globally by the end of the decade. Both companies' obesity treatments belong to a class of drugs originally developed for diabetes known as GLP-1 agonists.

Eli Lilly logo is shown on one of the company's offices in San Diego, California, U.S., September 17, 2020. REUTERS/Mike Blake/File Photo

GLP-1 drugs have been shown to help patients lose on average as much as 20% of their weight, fuelling unparalleled demand.

($1 = 6.8673 Danish crowns)

(Reporting by Andrew Silver; Writing by Miyoung Kim; Additional reporting by Mariam Sunny in Bengaluru; Editing by Christopher Cushing and Mark Potter)

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