Key Takeaways

Shares of Eli Lilly ( LLY ) jumped 16% Thursday morning to lead S&P 500 gainers after the pharmaceutical company released clinical trial results for its oral weight-loss drug that "demonstrated statistically significant efficacy results and a safety profile consistent with injectable GLP-1 medicines."

The first of seven Phase 3 trials for orforglipron showed it was more effective than a placebo at causing weight loss and a reduction in A1C, a long-term blood sugar metric used in evaluating diabetes treatments, Lilly said. The reductions in weight and A1C increased for patients taking higher doses of the drug.

The drug had similar gastrointestinal side effects to Eli Lilly's injectible weight-loss drugs Mounjaro and Zepbound, including nausea, indigestion, and diarrhea. The rate of patients reporting the side effects also varied among different doses, impacting 10% to 26% of patients.

Eli Lilly said it plans to present the data at a conference and in a peer-reviewed journal. Results from other trials for orforglipron will be released later this year, and the company expects to file for Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval as a type 2 diabetes treatment in 2026.

Lilly, rival Novo Nordisk ( NVO ), and others are in development of new weight-loss treatments that can be taken orally rather than injected. Pfizer ( PFE ) halted an oral drug trial earlier this week after a patient reported a liver injury.

While Eli Lilly shares soared on the news, those of Novo Nordisk—the maker of blockbuster drugs Ozempic and Wegovy —sank 7% soon after the opening bell.

UPDATE—This article has been updated with the latest share price information

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