--- title: "Eli Lilly's oral GLP-1 weight loss drug has been approved for sale in the U.S. and has applied for listing in China" type: "News" locale: "en" url: "https://longbridge.com/en/news/281464239.md" description: "Eli Lilly announced that its oral GLP-1 receptor agonist orforglipron has been approved by the U.S. FDA for market launch, becoming the second oral GLP-1 weight loss drug in the world. The drug can be taken at any time without dietary and water intake restrictions. Eli Lilly has applied for market launch in over 40 countries worldwide and has submitted an application to the Chinese drug regulatory authority for the treatment of type 2 diabetes and obesity. The company plans to invest $3 billion over the next decade to expand its supply chain capacity in China and establish a local production system" datetime: "2026-04-02T04:13:09.000Z" locales: - [zh-CN](https://longbridge.com/zh-CN/news/281464239.md) - [en](https://longbridge.com/en/news/281464239.md) - [zh-HK](https://longbridge.com/zh-HK/news/281464239.md) --- # Eli Lilly's oral GLP-1 weight loss drug has been approved for sale in the U.S. and has applied for listing in China ![Image](https://imageproxy.pbkrs.com/https://inews.gtimg.com/om_bt/OEAd5QMGUaCk8w3hReSeFTJ7lAD50gTFGr5J-Bvh5OeHkAA/1000?x-oss-process=image/auto-orient,1/interlace,1/resize,w_1440,h_1440/quality,q_95/format,jpg) On April 1st local time, Eli Lilly announced that its oral small molecule GLP-1 receptor agonist orforglipron has been approved by the U.S. FDA for marketing, used for the treatment of adult obesity or overweight, making it the second oral GLP-1 weight loss drug to be launched globally. Eli Lilly's orforglipron can be taken at any time of the day without dietary and water intake restrictions, further enhancing the flexibility of treatment. Currently, the global GLP-1 research and development race has entered the "second half," with pharmaceutical companies focusing on the development of next-generation innovative weight loss therapies aimed at improving patient medication experience with oral small molecules, ultra-long-acting formulations, multi-target agonists to enhance efficacy, and optimizing weight loss quality by reducing fat without losing muscle. ![Image](https://imageproxy.pbkrs.com/https://inews.gtimg.com/om_bt/OulgU8FpBC0R9Twb0nICxqE5z3Si5GCikvhV6Bkb9Y2e4AA/641?x-oss-process=image/auto-orient,1/interlace,1/resize,w_1440,h_1440/quality,q_95/format,jpg) Eli Lilly has submitted applications for marketing orforglipron for weight loss or blood sugar reduction in more than 40 countries worldwide. At the end of last year, this drug also submitted a marketing application to the Chinese drug regulatory authority for the treatment of type 2 diabetes and obesity. Currently, no oral GLP-1 weight loss drug has been approved for marketing in the Chinese market. However, Eli Lilly has proactively laid out the production of orforglipron in China. On March 11th of this year, the company announced plans to invest a total of $3 billion over the next decade to comprehensively expand its supply chain capacity in China, aiming to establish a local production and supply system for oral solid formulations and focus on the production capacity of the next-generation small molecule oral GLP-1 receptor agonist orforglipron. This investment is a significant part of Eli Lilly's largest global production expansion plan in its history. Eli Lilly's investment will adopt a combination of "internal expansion + external cooperation," and the company has reached a strategic cooperation with the Chinese pharmaceutical outsourcing company WuXi AppTec, expecting to invest $200 million and support its technical capability building, with plans to gradually expand the scale based on future developments. 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