Eli Lilly Dan Skovronsky discusses weight loss drugs

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Eli Lilly Dan Skovronsky discusses weight loss drugs

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Dan Skovronsky knows what makes a good obesity drug.

As chief scientific officer at Eli Lilly, he’s already done it once with the company’s weekly shot, Zepbound. He’s trying to do it again with a more convenient daily pill, then repeat the feat with a shot that could be even more powerful than Zepbound. And that’s not counting the other nine obesity drugs Lilly’s testing in clinical trials.

Skovronsky said the race to create the next great drug is not just about weight loss anymore, something more investors and analysts are starting to say.

Take Amgen‘s experimental drug MariTide: people lost up to 20% of their body weight in a Phase 2 study and Amgen shares fell about 5% on the day the results were released in November. Why? Investors worried that it wouldn’t be enough to compete with Lilly’s Zepbound and Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy, both of which will have a yearslong head start. 

An Eli Lilly & Co. Zepbound injection pen arranged in the Brooklyn borough of New York, US, on Thursday, March 28, 2024.

Shelby Knowles | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Skovornsky sees improving ease of use and making more potent drugs as two paths to move the field forward. He envisions pills like Lilly’s orforglipron reaching people around the world. He sees drugs that can deliver more weight loss – possibly including Lilly’s own retatrutide – as another area with potential. 

But he’s most excited to see how many other health conditions that incretin – or gut hormone – medicines can treat. Lilly’s Zepbound recently was approved to treat sleep apnea. The company’s also exploring whether it can treat addiction, heart disease, inflammation and gastrointestinal conditions. 

You can watch to the full interview for more from Skovronsky on Lilly’s work in obesity and where he sees the market going.

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