Eli Lilly said its experimental obesity pill orforglipron helped adults without diabetes lose an average 12.4% of body weight, or about 27 pounds, over 72 weeks in the first of two pivotal Phase 3 studies. The once-daily pill met its main endpoints, cutting weight by roughly 11 percentage points more than placebo and improving blood-pressure and lipid measures. Around three in five participants on the highest dose lost at least 10% of their weight, while gastrointestinal side-effects led 10% to stop treatment, versus 3% for placebo. The efficacy, while clinically meaningful, fell short of Wall Street hopes for a 13–15% reduction and lagged results for Novo Nordisk’s oral semaglutide, which achieved about 15% weight loss in a similar trial. Lilly said it will submit the data, along with results from an ongoing diabetes study, to regulators before year-end and is preparing for a global launch if the medicine is approved. Investors reacted sharply. Lilly’s shares sank as much as 14% on 7 August—its steepest single-day drop since 2000—wiping roughly $60 billion from its market value. Novo Nordisk rose more than 7% as the data reinforced its lead in the fast-growing obesity market, currently dominated by injectable drugs such as Wegovy and Zepbound. The sell-off overshadowed a strong quarter for Lilly. The company reported second-quarter revenue of $15.6 billion, up 38% year on year, and lifted its 2025 revenue forecast to $60-62 billion on robust demand for its marketed GLP-1 injectables Mounjaro and Zepbound. Nevertheless, the modest trial read-out underscored investor sensitivity to competitive positioning in what is expected to become a multibillion-dollar oral weight-loss market.