In a late-stage trial, patients switching from weekly injections to Lilly\u2019s oral drug were able to maintain their lost weight, perhaps the biggest frustration with GLP-1 drugs<\/strong>.<\/p>\n For many patients, shots work, but not something they\u2019d want to take forever. Cost, convenience, long-term health care risks, and simple fatigue tend to get in the way. Historically, that\u2019s also when the weight creeps back.<\/p>\n However, Lilly\u2019s data points to a different path where, once you\u2019re done losing weight through injections, you could switch to a pill to maintain it.<\/p>\n If that approach holds up, we\u2019re likely to see a fundamental shift in long-term obesity care.<\/p>\n Halting GLP-1 injections typically results in weight regain because the drug\u2019s appetite suppression doesn\u2019t linger for a long time.<\/p>\n More Health Care:<\/strong><\/p>\n In a major semaglutide study, patients losing nearly 17% of body weight<\/strong><\/a> regained approximately two-thirds <\/strong>of it within a year after stopping treatment.<\/p>\n We see a similar trend with tirzepatide<\/strong>, where patients who stopped using the drug regained nealry 14%<\/strong> over the following year.<\/p>\n That\u2019s because the hunger signals return, metabolism adjusts, and the body resets to its old baseline.<\/p>\n The real test for obesity drugs is once the injections stop.<\/p>\n Related: Top-rated analyst drops curt 8-word take on Tesla stock<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Historically, that\u2019s also when the weight creeps back up, and that\u2019s also true for patients who saw encouraging results.<\/p>\n Eli Lilly\u2019s latest trial<\/a> points to a completely different outcome, though, and one that might reshape how long-term treatment works.<\/p>\n Key trial details:<\/strong><\/p>\n After 72 weeks on weekly GLP-1 injections<\/strong>, patients who moved to Lilly\u2019s daily pill were tracked for another year<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Those on Lilly\u2019s pill outperformed the placebo on weight loss maintenance.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Former Wegovy<\/strong> users on the pill regained just 2 pounds<\/strong>, maintaining nearly 95%<\/strong> of their previous weight loss.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Patients who moved from\u00a0Zepbound\u00a0to the pill regained almost\u00a011 pounds, still preserving\u00a0around 80%\u00a0of the weight lost.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Lilly has filed for FDA approval<\/strong>, with a potential decision slated for March 2026<\/strong>, backed by a priority review voucher.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n Kenneth Custer, president of Lilly Cardiometabolic Health, weighed in on the results, saying it could,<\/p>\n Key players in the weight-loss drug market<\/strong><\/p>\n Eli Lilly<\/strong> has taken center stage with tirzepatide, marketed as Zepbound and Mounjaro, helping patients shed around 20% of body weight in trials. Novo Nordisk<\/strong> virtually built the category with its pioneering Ozempic and Wegovy brands<\/strong>, delivering nearly 15% weight loss<\/strong> while still holding nearly 68%<\/strong><\/a> of global GLP-1 volume<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Other drugmakers<\/strong>, including Pfizer and Amgen<\/strong>, are in the race to catch up with pills and next-generation therapies in what\u2019s now a more crowded market.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n Obesity drugs are creating a market that pharma hasn\u2019t seen before<\/strong><\/p>\n The weight-loss drug market continues blowing up, and Mr.Market\u2019s taking notice.<\/p>\n Wall Street<\/a> analysts forecast annual sales to jump to\u00a0$100 billion by 2030<\/strong>, while some forecasts indicate it could surge\u00a0past $150 billion<\/strong>\u00a0in the early 2030s, as treatments expand globally.<\/p>\n Related: Palantir secures quiet contract win with big implications<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n That level of expansion is virtually unheard of in\u00a0the pharmaceutical industry, drawing comparisons to tech-sector booms.<\/p>\n Eli Lilly\u2019s incredible rise shows exactly why.<\/p>\n Spearheaded by its powerful obesity and diabetes franchise, it reached a $1 trillion market cap<\/strong><\/a> in November 2025<\/strong>, the first healthcare company ever to do so.<\/p>\n LLY stock is up a whopping 39% year-to-date<\/strong><\/a>, and 37% alone<\/strong> in the past six months.<\/p>\n From a financial standpoint, Lilly\u2019s results underscore that the obesity boom is directly translating into bottom-line strength.<\/p>\n In Q3 2025<\/strong>, sales surged 54% year-over-year <\/strong>to $17.6 billion<\/strong><\/a>, blowing past market expectations.<\/p>\n Tirzepatide spearheaded the surge, generating a massive $10.1 billion in quarterly sales<\/strong>, up substantially from $4.4 billion<\/strong> a year earlier.<\/p>\n Moreover, this also made Lilly\u2019s GLP-1 franchise the\u00a0top-grossing drug on a global sales <\/strong>basis for the quarter, surpassing Keytruda.<\/p>\n On the back of that expansion, Lilly bumped its full-year 2025 sales outlook to nearly $63 billion<\/strong>, pointing to 30%+ growth<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Related: Bank of America sets AI stocks to buy list for 2026<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n This story was originally published by TheStreet<\/a> on Dec 20, 2025, where it first appeared in the Health<\/a> section. Add TheStreet as a Preferred Source by clicking here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Losing weight hasn\u2019t quite been the hardest part of modern obesity treatment. Keeping it off is. That\u2019s exactly…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":646997,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4315],"tags":[185537,5835,105,198392,24097,4326,6738,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-646996","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-medication","8":"tag-body-weight","9":"tag-eli-lilly","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-injections","12":"tag-losing-weight","13":"tag-medication","14":"tag-patients","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115759601780400204","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/646996","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=646996"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/646996\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/646997"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=646996"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=646996"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=646996"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}} Eli Lilly\u2019s obesity pill helped patients maintain weight loss after switching off weekly GLP-1 injections.Photo by Peter Dazeley on Getty Images <\/p>\n
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In Q3 2025, the drugs contributed to a massive $10.1 billion in sales, more than doubling a year earlier while blowing past Merck\u2019s Keytruda, the top-grossing drug. Lilly is also now looking to spread its tentacles with orforglipron, a daily pill controlling up to 60% of a projected $22 billion obesity pill market by 2030.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n