Novo Nordisk Files for Approval of Oral Weight-Loss Drug Wegovy in China, Challenging Eli Lilly's Lead – finance.biggo.com
Novo Nordisk (NVO.US) announced on the 27th that China’s National Medical Products Administration has accepted its marketing application for the oral version of its GLP-1 weight-loss drug Wegovy, formally entering the race for oral weight-loss drugs in the world’s second-largest pharmaceutical market. The move allows the Danish pharmaceutical giant to narrow the gap with rival Eli Lilly (LLY.US), which had already submitted a marketing application for a similar drug to Chinese regulators late last year.
Novo Nordisk, Eli Lilly, Pfizer (PFE.US), and China-based Innovent Biologics (01801.HK) are all currently vying for market share in China’s GLP-1 weight-loss injection market. China’s National Health Commission has previously stated that by 2030, the proportion of China’s overweight or obese population could exceed 65%, making weight-loss drugs a fiercely contested battleground for major pharmaceutical companies.
Both Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly believe that oral weight-loss drugs have the potential to attract patients who are reluctant to undergo injectable treatments, further expanding the market. Novo Nordisk’s oral version of Wegovy has already received early approval in the United States and the United Kingdom, and was launched in the U.S. this year. Eli Lilly is close behind, with its oral drug orforglipron receiving U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval in April of this year. It is also a GLP-1 class drug that works by mimicking gut hormones to suppress appetite and regulate blood sugar in diabetic patients.
In the Chinese market, Eli Lilly has taken the lead. The company announced in March that it had submitted a marketing application to Chinese regulators at the end of 2025 for once-daily oral orforglipron. Eli Lilly executives have previously indicated that the drug could be launched in China as early as this year. In contrast, Novo Nordisk did not comment on the timeline for obtaining approval for oral Wegovy in China, stating only that the application had been accepted.
Yang Huang, head of China healthcare research at J.P. Morgan, noted that sales of GLP-1 therapies for weight management could reach RMB 30 billion within the next five to seven years, far exceeding the current estimate of RMB 3 billion to 4 billion. This suggests that China’s weight-loss drug market still has enormous room for growth, and the introduction of oral formulations could accelerate market penetration.
Notably, Novo Nordisk’s weight-loss drug strategy in China is not limited to oral Wegovy. The company has already launched injectable GLP-1 drugs in the Chinese market and continues to expand production capacity to meet demand. With the marketing application for the oral formulation now accepted in China, Novo Nordisk hopes to secure a more favorable position in its competition with Eli Lilly.
From a global perspective, the development of oral GLP-1 drugs is advancing rapidly. In addition to Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly, Pfizer is also actively positioning itself in this space. Industry insiders note that if oral formulations can overcome technical challenges such as bioavailability, they will significantly lower the barrier to treatment for patients—particularly in cultural environments where acceptance of injectable therapies is lower, the market potential of oral drugs should not be underestimated.
The competitive landscape of China’s weight-loss drug market is becoming increasingly intense, with major pharmaceutical companies adopting different strategic emphases. Eli Lilly, with its earlier application timeline, may seize the first-mover advantage in the Chinese market; Novo Nordisk, leveraging its global brand recognition and clinical data foundation in the GLP-1 space, is seeking to overtake from behind. Innovent Biologics, as a domestic representative, is also actively advancing its GLP-1 pipeline, attempting to carve out a niche between imported and domestically produced drugs.
Market analysts note that Chinese drug regulators have shown an accelerating trend in innovative drug approvals in recent years, which bodes well for both Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly. If both oral Wegovy and orforglipron receive Chinese marketing approval within the next one to two years, competition in the GLP-1 weight-loss drug market will enter a white-hot phase, with pricing, medical insurance coverage, and patient accessibility becoming key factors in determining market share.
Yang Huang’s forecast also reflects market optimism about the prospects for weight-loss drugs in China. From the current RMB 3 billion to 4 billion, growing to RMB 30 billion within the next five to seven years represents a nearly tenfold increase. This growth momentum is primarily driven by the expanding obese population base, rising health awareness, and the successive introduction of more convenient treatment options such as oral formulations.
However, the rapid expansion of the market also comes with challenges. Drug pricing, medical insurance negotiations, supply chain stability, and generic drug competition will all affect the ultimate performance of major pharmaceutical companies in the Chinese market. Whether Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly can successfully replicate their global market experience in China remains to be seen.
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