Pharmaceutical giants Eli Lilly (LLY) and Novo Nordisk (NVO) are competing in the multi-billion-dollar weight loss drug market. According to data published in The New England Journal of Medicine, Zepbound has once again outperformed Novo’s Wegovy in a clinical trial. Zepbound is developed with tirzepatide, a dual GIP and GLP-1 receptor agonist, while Wegovy is built with semaglutide, a mono GLP-1 receptor agonist.
The two drugs underwent the SURMOUNT-5 trial, a Phase 3b open-label clinical study evaluating the safety and efficacy of Zepbound compared to Wegovy. At 72 weeks, Zepbound achieved an average weight reduction of 20.2% compared to 13.7% with Wegovy, showing a 47% greater relative weight loss. In secondary endpoints, 64.6% of patients treated with Zepbound lost at least 15% of their body weight, against 40.1% of patients on Wegovy. Waist circumference reduction was greater with Zepbound (18.4 cm) compared to Wegovy (13.0 cm).
Zepbound has consistently proven more effective across various endpoints compared to Wegovy in head-to-head clinical trials. Lilly’s Tirzepatide is marketed as Zepbound in the U.S. and Mounjaro in other countries for adults with obesity who also have other weight-related medical problems. Meanwhile, Novo’s semaglutide is commercialized as Wegovy for weight management and as Ozempic for people with type-2 diabetes.
— new from TipRanks
