Chinese regulators have approved Eli Lilly‘s orforglipron, making the US company the first drugmaker to win clearance in the country for a GLP-1 weight-loss pill.
The decision, announced on Thursday, hands Lilly an early advantage over its Danish rival Novo Nordisk in the world’s second-largest pharmaceutical market. Until now, China‘s regulators had approved GLP-1 medications for weight management only in injectable form.
Lilly’s pill is marketed as Foundayo in the US. In China, it will compete for market share against Lilly’s own once-weekly GLP-1 obesity injection, as well as similar shots from Novo, Pfizer and the local company Innovent Biologics.
The GLP-1 class of drugs mimics a gut hormone to curb appetite and regulate blood sugar in patients with diabetes. Lilly’s shares rose 1.2% in US premarket trading after China’s medicines regulator announced the approval. Novo’s Danish shares were up more than 2%.
Lilly said it was working to advance the drug’s commercial launch in China, without commenting on price. The company said it would supply the pill to authorized healthcare and pharmaceutical institutions.
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