Weight-Loss Drug Race

Listen, obesity was invented in the US. Are you going to take some drug manufactured in Scandanavia? Have you lost your mind?

Weight-Loss Drug Race

Quartz Media

Feb 24, 2026

Shares of Novo Nordisk dropped roughly 16% yesterday after its experimental obesity drug CagriSema fell short of efficacy expectations in a late-stage clinical trial, underperforming against Eli Lilly's Zepbound in weight-loss results. Patients taking CagriSema lost an average of 23% of their body weight over 84 weeks, compared with a 25.5% reduction observed with Zepbound.

Novo Nordisk is the maker of Ozempic, a diabetes medication that helped catalyze growth in the obesity drug market. Ozempic and CagriSema contain semaglutide (see our overview) that mimics a gut hormone called GLP-1 to help control appetite, slow digestion, and manage blood sugar. CagriSema adds another hormone, cagrilintide, to further curb hunger. In contrast, Eli Lilly's Zepbound contains tirzepatide, which mimics both GLP-1 and GIP to affect appetite and metabolism. See the differences here.

Separately, Eli Lilly announced yesterday Zepbound is now available in a single pen with four doses, or about a month's supply.