SHANGHAI (Reuters) – Eli Lilly (NYSE:) said on Tuesday its diabetes drug tirzepatide has won approval from Chinese regulators, posing increasing competition with Danish rival Novo Nordisk (NYSE:) in a key Asian market.
Novo Nordisk’s popular diabetes drug Ozempic won approval in China in 2021, and sales of the weekly injection in the Greater China region, including Hong Kong and Taiwan, doubled to DKK4.8 billion ($698 million) last year.
Eli Lilly has not said when sales will begin in China or how many doses it will deliver.
Tirzepatide is the active ingredient in the US firm’s diabetes drug Mounjaro and weight loss drug Zepbound.
Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk are looking to ramp up production in the weight-loss market, which is estimated to reach at least $100 billion worldwide by the end of the decade. Both companies’ obesity treatments belong to a class of drugs originally developed to treat diabetes known as GLP-1 agonists.
GLP-1 drugs have been shown to help patients lose an average of up to 20% of their body weight, driving unprecedented demand.
In March, Novo Nordisk expected its weight-loss drug Wegovy to be approved for sale in China this year and launched with limited supplies in the country, which experts estimate has the world’s largest population of overweight or obese people. .
Soaring demand for Zepbound prompted Eli Lilly to raise its full-year sales forecast by $2 billion last month.
Last month, the US Food and Drug Administration said most doses of Mounjaro and Zepbound would be in limited supply in the second quarter of this year due to increased demand.
Munjaro has been approved in the US since 2022 for patients with type 2 diabetes to control blood sugar levels. Late last year it was approved in the US for weight loss under the brand name Zepbound.
($1 = 6.8673 Danish kroner)