New data on weight loss drugs that could compete with Novo Nordisk's Wegovy are raising expectations there will soon be more options, and possibly lower
prices, in an estimated $100 billion marketplace, doctors and pharmaceutical executives say.
Drugmakers are ratcheting up their research and aiming for new formulations that can be taken as pills, options to deliver higher weight loss or drugs that
reduce fat while maintaining muscle.
"It has really been an explosion of innovation," said Dr. Robert Gabbay, chief science officer at the American Diabetes Association (ADA), which receives
funding from both Novo and Eli Lilly and Co and just concluded its annual meeting in San Diego, California. "If there are multiple (treatments) in the market,
that will lead to some level of competition and greater access."