Eli Lilly's oral GLP-1 weight loss medication approved for sale in the U.S., application submitted for approval in China.

Ask AI · How Lilly’s investment in China can accelerate the local supply of oral weight-loss drugs?

On April 1st, local time, Lilly announced that its oral small molecule GLP-1 receptor agonist orforglipron has received FDA approval in the United States for marketing, used to treat adult obesity or overweight, making it the second oral GLP-1 weight-loss drug to be launched globally.

Lilly’s orforglipron can be taken at any time of the day without restrictions on diet and water intake, further increasing treatment flexibility.

Currently, the global GLP-1 research and development race has entered the “second half,” with pharmaceutical companies focusing on next-generation innovative weight-loss therapies around oral small molecules, ultra-long-acting formulations to improve patient experience, multi-target agonists to enhance efficacy, and fat reduction without muscle loss to optimize weight loss quality.

Lilly’s orforglipron has submitted applications for weight loss or blood sugar reduction approval in more than 40 countries worldwide. By the end of last year, this drug had also submitted an application to the Chinese drug regulatory authority for marketing for the treatment of type 2 diabetes and obesity.

Currently, no oral GLP-1 weight-loss drug has been approved for marketing in the Chinese market. However, Lilly has already laid out plans for orforglipron production in China. On March 11th, the company announced plans to invest a total of $3 billion over the next decade to expand its supply chain capacity in China, building a domestic production and supply system for oral solid formulations, and focusing on the production capacity of the next-generation small molecule oral GLP-1 receptor agonist orforglipron. This investment is part of Lilly’s largest-ever global production expansion plan.

Lilly’s current investment will adopt a “internal expansion + external cooperation” model. The company has also reached a strategic partnership with Chinese pharmaceutical outsourcing company Kanglong Chemical, with an expected investment of $200 million to support its technological capability development, and plans to gradually expand scale based on future development.

(This article is from First Financial)