Eli Lilly announces trial results of new weight loss, diabetes pill; stock booms
Lilly said its new daily pill can be taken at any time of the day without restrictions on food and water intake.
Eli Lilly's stock boomed April 17 after announcing a new experimental pill that caused nearly 8% weight loss at certain dosages and lowered blood sugar in patients during a clinical trial.
The Indianapolis-headquartered pharmaceutical company, known for selling weight loss drugs Mounjaro and Zepbound, published its findings for the pill called orforglipron in a news release on April 17.
"We are pleased to see that our latest incretin medicine meets our expectations for safety and tolerability, glucose control and weight loss, and we look forward to additional data readouts later this year," said David A. Ricks, Lilly's chair and CEO.
According to Ricks, orforglipron is a once-daily pill that, if approved, could be "readily manufactured and launched at scale for use by people around the world."
Eli Lilly stock booms April 17
Lilly's shares had increased roughly 16% by 1 p.m. ET after the results of the trial were released.
What does Lilly's new pill do?
Lilly said its new pill would continue the company's "mission to reduce chronic diseases like type 2 diabetes," which it says is expected to roughly impact 760 million adults by 2050.
During the trial, the pill lowered patients' A1C by an average of 1.3% to 1.6% from a baseline of 8.0%, according to Lilly. The company also said that more than 65% of patients taking the highest dose of orforglipron reached an A1C less than or equal to 6.5%, which is below the American Diabetes Association's (ADA) defined threshold for diabetes.
For people without diabetes, a normal A1C is below 5.7%, the Cleveland Clinic says. Between 5.7% and 6.4% is considered prediabetes, it added.
Patients taking the highest dose of Lilly's new pill lost an average of 16 pounds during the trial, according to the company. Participants' weight loss had not yet plateaued by the time the trial ended, which could indicate further weight reduction was possible, Lilly said.
When will Lilly's new pill be available to public?
It is unclear when Lilly's new pill will be made available to the public, as more trials will be conducted and it faces approval by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Ricks said this is only the first of seven Phase 3 studies "examining the safety and efficacy of orforglipron across people with diabetes and obesity."
What are the adverse effects of Lilly's new pill?
So far, Lilly said the adverse effects of its new pill are consistent with GLP-1s, a class of medications primarily used to treat type 2 diabetes.
The most commonly reported side effects were "gastrointestinal-related and generally mild to moderate in severity," Lilly said. The trial found that different doses (3 mg, 12 mg and 36 mg) caused varying chances of side effects, which included diarrhea (19%, 21% and 26%), nausea (13%, 18% and 16%), dyspepsia (10%, 20% and 15%), constipation (8%, 17% and 14%) and vomiting (5%, 7% and 14%).
"With some concern of elevated rates of nausea and vomiting heading into today's readout, these result firmly validate the tolerable profile of orforglipron," BMO Capital Markets analyst Evan Seigerman said, per Reuters.
Additionally, no liver-related safety signal was observed in the trial, Lilly said.
How would people take Lilly's new pill?
Lilly's new pill can be taken at any time of the day without restrictions on food and water intake, according to the company.
Contributing: Reuters