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- Posted August 8, 2025
New Weight Loss Pill From Eli Lilly Shows Promise in Early Study
A new weight loss pill made by Eli Lilly helped people lose a significant amount of weight in a recent study.
Taken at the highest dose, orforglipron helped patients lose an average 27.3 pounds, or 12.4% of their body weight, over 72 weeks.
Eli Lilly says it plans to apply for U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval by the end of the year to market the drug.
If approved, the pill could become a simpler alternative to injectable medications like Wegovy, Ozempic, Zepbound and Mounjaro, which are used to treat obesity and type 2 diabetes.
Pills are easier to make and “can be manufactured at a significant scale,” Kenneth Custer, Eli Lilly’s president of cardiometabolic health, told The New York Times.
“There are orders of magnitude differences in how many we can support," he said, adding that pills could also help people in countries without access to cold storage needed for injected drugs.
Like the injected medications, the new pill belongs to the GLP-1 class of drugs. GLP-1 drugs work by helping people feel full longer and by slowing digestion, according to the Cleveland Clinic.
The recent study included 3,127 adults who were randomly assigned to take orforglipron or a placebo. Three different dosages of the drug were evaluated.
In addition to weight loss, people taking the drug also saw improvements in cholesterol, triglyceride levels and blood pressure.
Side effects were similar to those seen with injectable drugs and included vomiting, diarrhea, constipation and indigestion, The Times said.
Earlier this year, Lilly also tested orforglipron in people with type 2 diabetes and found that it lowered blood sugar and led to weight loss similar to Ozempic.
The company plans to seek FDA approval to market the drug for diabetes use in 2026, The Times reported.
Orforglipron has not yet been compared directly with injected drugs like Wegovy or Zepbound. In a previous study, Zepbound helped people lose 20.2% of their weight, and Wegovy led to a 13.2% weight loss over 72 weeks.
Still, experts say the new pill may have key benefits.
It may not be as powerful as injections, though, said Dr. David Cummings, an obesity expert at the University of Washington in Seattle.
But if it’s a lot cheaper and easier to make, Cummings said, then “that feature alone could make it truly impactful.”
Eli Lilly has not yet said how much the pill will cost, and plans to decide after the FDA reviews it for marketing approval.
About 8 million Americans now take obesity medications, even though an estimated 170 million could benefit, according to Custer. He said a major reason is that making injected drugs is expensive and slow, The Times said.
Because pills are easier to make and store, this new drug could help reach more people, Custer added.
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SOURCE: The New York Times, Aug. 7, 2025
