Novo Nordisk's Ozempic wins over Eli Lilly's Trulicity, with stock price reaching the largest increase in a month

In a highly anticipated drug showdown, Novo Nordisk achieved a key victory. A Medicare data study involving nearly 60,000 diabetes and heart disease patients showed that patients using Ozempic had a 23% lower risk of heart attack, stroke, or death compared to those using Trulicity. Novo Nordisk announced these results at the European Association for the Study of Diabetes conference held in Vienna. This result is significant for Novo Nordisk, supporting its arguments against Eli Lilly in the competition for weight loss drugs. Eli Lilly is capturing market share with its newer drugs Mounjaro and Zepbound, putting immense pressure on Novo Nordisk. Boosted by this news, Novo Nordisk's stock price surged over 7%, marking its largest increase in a month. Prior to this, the company's stock had fallen 56% over the past 12 months due to a series of clinical and commercial setbacks. Pharmaceutical Companies Compete to Release Comparative Data Currently, the two pharmaceutical giants are competing to release research data to persuade doctors to prioritize their products. Just a day before Novo Nordisk announced the above study, Eli Lilly also released its research findings. According to a head-to-head study released by Eli Lilly on Wednesday, its experimental oral weight loss and diabetes drug orforglipron outperformed Novo Nordisk's oral version of Ozempic—Rybelsus—in weight loss and blood sugar control. However, Novo Nordisk is advancing a higher dose Rybelsus study, which has shown stronger weight loss effects in trials and has been approved in Europe for the treatment of diabetes. In another head-to-head study released on Thursday, Eli Lilly's Mounjaro showed similar effects to Trulicity in reducing heart attacks, strokes, and deaths. However, this randomized trial is not comparable to the Ozempic-Trulicity head-to-head comparison, which is an investigation of real-world results. Doctors Still Need to Consider Individual Patient Differences Stephen Nicholls, director of the Victorian Heart Institute in Melbourne, participated in leading Eli Lilly's head-to-head trial. He stated that doctors still have reasons to choose Mounjaro over Trulicity. Mounjaro offers additional benefits, such as more weight loss effects and improvements in other obesity-related conditions. "We need to consider the individual patient situation in front of us," he said. Additionally, Eli Lilly also presented independent obesity trial data for its oral weight loss drug orforglipron at the conference, receiving positive feedback from doctors who believe this new drug will expand the accessibility of obesity medications and be widely used Unlike Eli Lilly's strategy, Novo Nordisk focuses more on demonstrating the effectiveness of its drugs in real-world settings. In addition to this key cardiovascular outcomes study, Novo Nordisk also announced another study, which found that its weight loss injection Wegovy can effectively suppress "food noise"—that is, intrusive thoughts about food.