Factbox-Top pharma companies racing to launch a weight-loss pill

March 6 (Reuters) - The global weight-loss drug market is entering a new phase, driven by the arrival of oral options, looming generic rivals and falling U.S. prices for blockbuster treatments from Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk.

The fast-changing landscape has ‌prompted Wall Street to rethink long-held forecasts of a $150 billion market within the next decade.

Novo became the first company to ‌launch a GLP-1 pill for obesity, giving the Danish drugmaker a competitive edge in the fast-evolving obesity treatment market.

Here are some companies racing to develop oral obesity drugs ​in the hopes of making their mark in a lucrative market:

ELI LILLY

Orforglipron, the company's once-daily oral non-peptide GLP-1 agonist, helped overweight adults without diabetes lose 12.4% of their body weight over 72 weeks at the highest dose in a late-stage trial.

In another study, orforglipron helped maintain weight loss in patients switching from its GLP-1 injection, Zepbound, and rival Novo Nordisk's Wegovy.

The company is preparing to launch orforglipron in the U.S. as early as ‌the second quarter of this year, pending approval from ⁠the Food and Drug Administration.

STRUCTURE THERAPEUTICS

Structure Therapeutics is developing GSBR-1290, a non-peptide oral GLP-1 agonist. The pill showed weight loss of up to 11.3% after 36 weeks of treatment in a mid-stage study of 230 people.

Structure ⁠plans to start late-stage development of the pill by mid-2026 after a meeting with the FDA in the first half of next year.

MERCK

The company, in partnership with Hansoh Pharma, is preparing to test HS-10535, an oral small-molecule GLP-1 agonist, in early stage trials. The drug is currently undergoing lab studies.

ASTRAZENECA

AstraZeneca ​and ​Eccogene are advancing ECC5004, a once-daily GLP-1 receptor agonist pill. Early-stage trial showed ​a promising weight-loss signal and a favorable safety profile, ‌with mid-stage trials planned under AstraZeneca's lead.

ROCHE

Roche, following its acquisition of Carmot Therapeutics, is working on CT-966, an oral GLP-1 agonist. CT-966 resulted in a placebo-adjusted average weight loss of 6.1% within four weeks in obese patients without diabetes in an early-stage trial last year.

VIKING THERAPEUTICS

The company is developing an oral formulation of VK2735, which targets both GLP-1 and GIP hormones that regulate the body's metabolism.

In a mid-stage study, the experimental weight-loss pill helped patients lose 12.2% of their body weight, missing Wall Street's top-end expectations of 15%.

PFIZER

Pfizer entered the lucrative obesity drug market ‌with its $10 billion acquisition of obesity drug developer Metsera after a fierce bidding ​war with Novo.