Eli Lilly’s Oral GLP-1 Orforglipron Outperforms Semaglutide in Diabetes and Weight Loss Trials

Eli Lilly's oral GLP-1 drug, orforglipron, showed superior results compared to Novo Nordisk’s oral semaglutide in a phase 3 diabetes trial, achieving greater reductions in blood sugar (A1C) and more significant weight loss1.

At the highest dose, orforglipron helped nearly three times as many participants reach near-normal blood sugar compared to oral semaglutide after one year1.

In another phase 3 study among patients with obesity or overweight and type 2 diabetes, orforglipron led to significant weight loss, meaningful A1C reductions, and improvements in cardiometabolic risk factors at 72 weeks1 4.

For diabetes patients, orforglipron resulted in an average weight loss of 9.6% at the highest dose over 72 weeks and a 1.7 percentage-point reduction in A1C, compared to 2.5% and a 0.5-point reduction for placebo, respectively4.

For obesity, Lilly’s oral GLP-1 reduced body weight by up to 12.4% in non-diabetic overweight patients—less than the investigational Novo Nordisk CagriSema (15.7%), but competitive for GLP-1 monotherapy2.

Lilly will submit regulatory approval applications for orforglipron, positioning it as a foundational, scalable, once-daily oral therapy for both type 2 diabetes and obesity1 6.

Most adverse events were gastrointestinal and mild to moderate, occurring mainly during dose escalation3.