Eli Lilly’s upcoming obesity drug, tirzepatide, seems to be a tad more potent than Novo Nordisk’s bestseller, Wegovy, assesses Søren Løntoft Hansen, analyst at Danish bank Sydbank.

The assessment follows Eli Lilly’s disclosure of promising data from its phase III study on tirzepatide for the treatment of obese adults with type 2 diabetes. 

The bank, however, thinks that there’s plenty of room for both drugs on the rapidly growing market for obesity treatment.

”Tirzepatide will definitely become an attractive product on the market for obesity treatment. That being said, I still think that this market is so big and uncultivated that there’s enough room for both. We see that patient demand for Wegovy is notable, and this market will expand significantly,” says Løntoft Hansen, who actually views it as an advantage that there are two companies rather than one leading the way for the treatment of obesity. 

Still, there shouldn’t be any doubts about tirzepatide being probably better than Wegovy, he notes. 

Lilly’s latest results show that the patient group that received the highest dose of tirzepatide reduced weight by 15.7% on average. A similar Wegovy study conducted by Novo Nordisk, which is still not a direct head-to-head study, showed a weight loss of 11%. 

When looking at Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly’s respective studies of Wegovy and tirzepatide in adults with obesity, tirzepatide does seem to score higher. While Wegovy has demonstrated a weight-loss effect of 15–18%, tirzepatide has shown as much as 22.5%.

Løntoft Hansen warns against comparing too closely across studies, as patient groups aren’t identical. Still, some factors testify to the argument that tirzepatide seems a bit more potent. 

”So tirzepatide is looking attractive but that doesn’t change the fact that there’s room for both,” says the analyst. 

Tirzepatide, which is on the market as a treatment of type 2 diabetes under brand name Mounjaro, generated USD 568.5m in the first quarter.