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Novo Nordisk’s anti obesity pill has delivered almost as much weight loss as its Wegovy injectable in a new trial, as the Danish drugmaker races to beat arch-rival Eli Lilly to market with a tablet version of its blockbuster drug.

Patients taking Wegovy in pill form lost 16.6 per cent of their body weight over a 64-week phase 3 trial, just under the 17 per cent that patients taking the injection lost on average in a previous study. One in three participants taking the pill lost 20 per cent of their body weight. 

Ludovic Helfgott, Novo’s executive vice-president of product and portfolio strategy, said it was the first time that an oral and injectable weight-loss drug had been more or less at par. 

One problem with making the drug in tablet form is that the peptides — small strings of amino acids — in its active ingredient semaglutide are mostly broken down in the gut and do not make it into the bloodstream. Novo has added a compound that makes it easier for the drug to be absorbed in the stomach. 

Helfgott said the company was “increasingly convinced of the importance of an oral” to offer patients another way to take weight-loss drugs. “A few years ago, it was deemed impossible to put a peptide in a pill,” he added. 

Novo has lost ground to Lilly in the key US market, while investors have become concerned that its pipeline of next-generation weight-loss drugs is not as comprehensive. Its shares are down 60 per cent in the past year. 

Its obesity pill could help it win back market share. A decision on whether the US Food and Drug Administration will approve the drug is expected in the fourth quarter, whereas Lilly is slightly further behind in the process, with analysts expecting a decision from regulators next year.

Lilly has taken a different approach to its weight-loss pill, developing orforglipron from scratch with a compound it bought from Japan’s Chugai Pharmaceutical.

Results of the first major trial of orforglipron for obesity sent shares in Lilly down last month, after it reported average weight loss at the lower end of market expectations. The trial is not directly comparable to the latest Novo study.

Novo hopes that because the Wegovy pill has the same active ingredient as the injectable version, regulators and doctors will recognise the broader health benefits of both. Previous trials have found that injectable Wegovy causes a steep fall in the risk of serious cardiac events. 

Martin Holst Lange, Novo’s chief scientific officer, said semaglutide had “well established cardiovascular benefits”. 

Trial participants taking the Wegovy pill experienced similar side effects to those taking the injectable, with nausea and vomiting the most common problems.

Separately on Wednesday, Lilly published data showing orforglipron outperformed oral semaglutide for treating type 2 diabetes in a head-to-head trial.