Eli Lilly on Thursday said its next-generation drug cleared a crucial late-stage trial in patients with obesity, delivering significant weight loss across doses. 

The results bring Lilly one step closer to filing for approval of the weekly injection, called retatrutide, which works differently from existing shots and pills from both Lilly and Novo Nordisk. It also appears to be more effective than those options.

The highest dose of retatrutide helped patients lose 28.3% of their weight — or 70.3 pounds — on average over 80 weeks, compared with 2.2% with placebo, when evaluating only patients who stayed on the drug.

Roughly 45% of the 2,500 patients in the Phase 3 trial achieved 30% or more weight loss, Lilly said. 

The highest dose also helped patients with a body mass index of 35 or above who participated in an extension of the study lose 30.3% of their weight on average over 104 weeks. That BMI threshold puts people at higher risk of cardiovascular complications or diabetes.

While the drug appeared to show higher rates of certain gastrointestinal side effects, such as nausea and diarrhea, especially at the highest dose, they were generally consistent with a previous Phase 3 trial of retatrutide in patients with obesity and a type of knee arthritis pain. Some analysts previously said those side effects highlight the speed and strength of the drug’s weight loss.

A lower dose of retatrutide that Lilly tested in the latest study was also associated with fewer discontinuations due to side effects.

Dan Skovronsky, Lilly’s chief scientific and product officer, called the 30% weight loss an “incredible number to see,” as it has previously only been associated with bariatric surgery. 

“We haven’t seen that level of weight loss before with these kinds of medicines,” Skovronsky told CNBC in an interview. 

Around 65% of people taking the highest dose of retatrutide also achieved a BMI of less than 30, which falls under the threshold for obesity, at 80 weeks.

Ahead of the results, some analysts said they were expecting to see weight loss higher than that seen with Lilly’s blockbuster weight loss drug Zepbound, which is around 20% to 22%. 

The data is the third late-stage result to date on retatrutide, which succeeded in a diabetes trial earlier this year and cleared a smaller study on patients with obesity and a type of knee arthritis in December. Lilly is betting big on retatrutide as the next pillar of its obesity portfolio after its injection Zepbound and newly launched pill, Foundayo. 

In a January note, TD Cowen analysts estimated that retatrutide could rake in sales of $3.8 billion in 2030. 

Retatrutide is also critical to the drugmaker’s plan to maintain its market share majority over Novo in the booming market for weight loss and diabetes drugs. Some analysts estimate the segment could be worth about $100 billion by the 2030s. 

Shares of AstraZeneca turned lower Friday after U.S. regulatory advisors voted against approving its experimental cancer drug. 

An advisory panel for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration late Thursday voted 6-3 against AstraZeneca’s oral drug camizestrant intended for the treatment of a type of breast cancer tumor, citing concerns around trial design.

The FDA generally follows the recommendations of its advisory committees, but isn’t bound to. 

AstraZeneca’s London-listed shares fell 2% in morning trading. 

The members voting against the drug’s approval weren’t convinced that the trial proved that early switching to camizestrant improved long-term survival rates compared to other ways of treating the disease. 

The vote was based on the Phase 3 results for the clinical trial SERENA-6 presented in 2025, which showed a 56% reduction in the risk of disease progression or death, compared to standard of care.

While the vote outcome is negative for the near-term regulatory path, the debate is nuanced, said Barclays analyst James Gordon. 

The panel didn’t dismiss the drug’s efficacy or future potential, it simply concluded that the SERENA-6 trial didn’t prove that acting on tumor detection before radiographic progression improves long-term outcome for patients, Gordon said.

The panel didn’t voice significant concern about the toxicity or overall safety of the drug. 

AstraZeneca said it would continue to work with the FDA as it completes its review of the application for camizestrant. It still believes strongly in the drug, Executive Vice President of Oncology Haematology R&D Susan Galbraith said in a statement. 

Doctors suggested that the data do not support an early change in therapy and instead introduce unknown risks by speeding up the treatment sequence, potentially reducing time on otherwise effective options, noted Jefferies analysts. “Overall, the group characterised SERENA‑6 as advocating too large a shift in clinical practice for what they viewed as a modest and uncertain benefit,” the analysts noted.

Even so, Jefferies said this wasn’t part of their Buy thesis on the stock and that SERENA-6 was only a small part of the company’s $80 billion 2030 sales goal. Outside of a potential sentiment hit, this should not be a major issue, they said.

AstraZeneca shares have risen about 25% over the past 12 months, outperforming the U.K. blue-chip index FTSE 100’s 20%. It had a string of positive data readouts over recent months, and a catalyst-rich period ahead with 11 more readouts expected in 2026.

On Wednesday, the company beat sales and profit expectations for the first quarter and said that it remains on track to reach its mid-term goals.

Novartis‘ CEO warned Tuesday that the U.S. drug pricing policy under President Donald Trump poses a “very difficult situation” and the reality will soon catch up with both drugmakers and patients.

“The longer-term implications are significant,” CEO Vas Narasimhan told CNBC’s Carolin Roth. “The reality of MFN is going to set in in the next 18 months.”

Novartis is focused on getting European and Japanese governments to quickly change how they reward innovation, he said, adding that if this doesn’t happen, then novel medicines might see delayed entry into these markets and patients won’t have access to the drugs.

The most favored nation drug pricing policy, or MFN, implemented by Trump last year means that prices in the big and lucrative U.S. market are tied to prices in comparably wealthy countries. Trump has made lower drug prices for Americans a priority and has long criticized what he calls “foreign nations freeloading on American-financed innovation.”

Narasimhan’s comments echo other drugmakers who have lamented Europe’s fragmented markets, red tape, and pricing policies.

Roche and AstraZeneca are among the companies that have recently flagged risks to European countries of missing out on new drugs unless they address the lower spending on medicines and unfavorable policies.

MFN’s effect on Novartis top and bottom line is still limited as it currently mainly impacts about 5-10% of sales in the Medicaid segment, Narasimhan told CNBC.

While there are “good early discussions” with European governments, there is still not enough action being taken, he added. “There’s awareness, but I still think there’s not a realization of the level of impact that’s coming.”

Earlier this month, Germany announced a proposal to cut costs in its national health system to tackle a looming multi-billion-euro funding gap, including by introducing steeper discounts on patented drugs.

“We’ve seen recent moves, for instance, by the German government, who actually go in the wrong direction. And so that is very concerning,” said Narasimhan.

“These governments are going to have to now really take this seriously, because the [MFN] policy is set, and I don’t see it disappearing in the United States.”

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Friday announced a series of measures aimed at accelerating the development of psychedelic treatments for serious mental illness.

That comes after President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Saturday directing federal health agencies to expand access to emerging therapies.

The move marks a significant shift toward supporting psychedelic-based medicines for conditions such as treatment-resistant depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and other substance use disorders, the FDA said.

“Under President Trump’s leadership, we are accelerating the research, approval and responsible access to promising mental health treatments,” Robert F. Kennedy Jr., secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, said in the release. “The FDA will prioritize therapies with Breakthrough Therapy designation, where early evidence shows meaningful improvement.”

As part of the announcement, the FDA said it would issue national priority vouchers to companies studying psilocybin for depression and methylone for PTSD.

The agency also cleared an early-stage clinical trial for noribogaine hydrochloride, a derivative of ibogaine, as a potential treatment for alcohol use disorder. This is the first time a compound like it has been authorized for study in the U.S. and for human trial.

“These medications have the potential to address the nation’s mental health crisis,” FDA Commissioner Marty Makary said in the announcement. “It is critical that their development is grounded in sound science and rigorous clinical evidence.”

The FDA said allowing these studies to proceed does not mean the drugs are approved or proven safe and effective. Officials said data with be closely monitored as research advances.

“If they are approved, they will be approved with certain conditions. These are not the medications you get a prescription for and pick up at a pharmacy,” Makary told CNBC.

Makary went on to say decisions on some of these therapies could come as soon as this summer or fall.

The fast turnaround time for drug approvals has been a priority for the Trump administration, which dropped the decades-old standard of requiring two clinical trials for standard drug reviews earlier this year. The new policies have come with some criticism, as industry experts have warned about potential issues with a faster timetable.

With Friday’s psychedelic announcement, the Trump administration also said pricing remains an important consideration in fast-tracking trials.

“We have very openly said that affordability is an important part of a medication’s effectiveness on a population level,” Makary said. “Lowering drug prices is one of the top priorities in this administration, and it’s something we think about in every decision, including how we prioritize the vouchers.”

The announcement also…

Novo Nordisk is partnering with OpenAI to “bring new and better treatment options to patients faster,” the Danish drugmaker said Tuesday. 

The partnership will enable Novo to better use AI to analyze complex datasets, identify promising new drugs, and reduce the time it takes for a medicine to move from the research stage to patient use, the company said in a statement. 

“There are millions of people living with obesity and diabetes who need treatment options, and we know there are therapies still waiting to be discovered that could change their lives,” said Novo CEO Mike Doustdar. “Integrating AI in our everyday work gives us the ability to analyse datasets at a scale that was previously impossible, identify patterns we could not see, and test hypotheses faster than ever.”

“AI is reshaping industries and in life sciences, it can help people live better, longer lives,” said OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. 

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Eli Lilly opposes the White House’s push to codify “most favored nation” drug pricing into law, CEO Dave Ricks said in an interview with CNBC.

Lilly is one of more than a dozen drugmakers that signed deals with the Trump administration last year agreeing to charge similar prices for prescription drugs in the U.S. as other wealthy nations. President Donald Trump has long complained that Americans pay high prices to subsidize low prices for medicine in the rest of the world.

The pharmaceutical industry thought the agreements would pacify those concerns and thwart attempts to make “most favored nation” pricing law. But the White House in recent months has pushed Congress to codify elements of the deals. The draft text hasn’t been shared publicly, though the administration has said it’s trying to get pharmaceutical companies back the effort.

Lilly doesn’t support it, Ricks said.

“When you throw it into the congressional process, what goes in is not what’s going to come out,” Ricks said. “And I think we see a lot of people who would rather reduce prices today and not worry about whether we have any new medicines tomorrow, not worry about whether America will have a robust drug industry and we’ll be able to do research in this country. And I worry about those things, so I don’t think that’s a great idea, and we’ve been pretty clear with the administration and the congressional leaders about that.”

Ricks said he thinks the Trump administration and leadership on the Hill are listening to the company’s concerns, but he said Lilly will use “all the tools we have to combat bad policy, and we think it would be bad policy.”

Novo Nordisk rose as much as 4% after England’s drug price watchdog recommended the use of its best-selling drug Wegovy to prevent heart attacks and strokes, marking the first GLP-1 backed for this use in the country.

Wegovy is mainly a weight loss treatment but it is also approved for reducing the risk of major cardiovascular events in people living with overweight or obesity.

The new recommendation the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), England’s drug price regulator, will significantly expand access to Wegovy on the country’s National Health Service (NHS).

Around 1.2 million people could use the medicine to help protect them against having further heart attacks or strokes, as it is made available for this condition, NICE said in a statement on Wednesday.

The regulator, which assesses a medicine’s cost-effectiveness, recommended semaglutide, the active ingredient in Wegovy and diabetes treatment Ozempic, as an option for adults who have previously had a heart attack, a stroke, or a serious circulation problem in the legs and who have a body mass index (BMI) of at least 27.

Novo’s Copenhagen-listed shares were last seen up 1.7% in morning trading, paring some earlier gains. The pan-European blue-chip index Stoxx 600 was up 1.8%.

Clinical trials have shown that patients taking a 2.4 mg dose of semaglutide alongside existing cardiovascular medicines were 20% less likely to have a serious cardiovascular event compared to placebo.

Wegovy secured UK approval in 2024 for reducing the risk of major cardiovascular disease in people living with overweight or obesity and heart disease, but access to the medicine was limited to patients paying out-of-pocket if used to treat those conditions.

Novo Nordisk has faced multiple setbacks over the past year as it has lost market share to U.S.-based rival Eli Lilly, whose medicines have resulted in more pronounced weight loss at approved doses. It is also facing significant pricing pressure amid political pressure in its largest market, the U.S., to lower the costs of prescription drugs, as well as exposure to generic competition in India and other markets this year.

So far in 2026, Novo has launched Wegovy in a pill as the first oral GLP-1 for weight loss, and higher-dose Wegovy that is more on par with Lilly’s rival Zepbound, as it’s trying to claw back market share.

Heart and circulatory disease is one of the leading causes of early death and ill health in England, and about 1 in 4 adults in the U.K. is estimated to live with obesity, according to the NHS.

Wegovy will be incorporated for treating cardiovascular disease and alongside NICE’s existing guidance recommending semaglutide for weight management in adults living with obesity or overweight.

“Together, these decisions reflect the growing body of evidence that this class of medicines offers benefits extending beyond weight loss,” NICE said.

“Today’s NICE recommendation for Wegovy…