Positive phase 2 results from Jiangsu Hengrui Pharmaceuticals (JNGHF)(JHPCY) and privately held Kailera Therapeutics for their daily oral GLP-1/GIP receptor dual agonist peptide ribupatide for obesity could put pressure on Eli Lilly (LLY), which is developing orforglipron and is in the same drug class.
The ribupatide trial, which was conducted in China, found that at 26 weeks of treatment, mean weight reduction was 12.1% at the two highest doses tested.
For comparison, data from Eli Lilly’s ATTAIN-1 trial, released in September 2025, showed average weight loss of 12.4% at 72 weeks at the highest dose tested.
For ribupatide, the 12.1% reduction was seen in both the 25 mg and 50 mg doses. At 10 mg, the average weight loss was only 6.9%. At all doses, no plateau in weight loss was observed.
For treatment-emergent adverse events, vomiting rates were 11.4% at 25 mg and 7.5% at 50 mg. Nausea rates were 22.7% at 25 mg and 20.0% at 50 mg.
Orforglipron does have a major advantage over ribupatide: It will likely hit the market first. Lilly has already submitted an application for the candidate with an FDA action date of April 10.
Novo Nordisk (NVO) was developing a once-monthly GLP-1/GIP receptor dual agonist but abandoned it in 2024. However, since January, it has been marketing an oral version of its GLP-1 Wegovy (semaglutide), and in December, filed an application for CagriSema, a combination of amylin analogue cagrilintide and semaglutide, with the FDA.