Shares of Novo Nordisk climbed 4% during Friday’s pre-market trading session, after rival Eli Lily’s Phase 3 ATTAIN-1 trial for obesity drug, orforglipron, trailed the Danish drug giant’s semaglutide on Thursday.

The trial involving over 3,000 obese patients found that all three doses of orforglipron "met the primary endpoint and all key secondary endpoints compared to placebo.”

However, the highest dose led to about 12.4% weight loss, below Wall Street's expectation of around 15%. By comparison, Novo Nordisk A/S’s oral semaglutide 25 mg achieved a 16.6% weight loss. CagriSema achieved a weight loss of 22.7% after 68 weeks in one study and 15.7% in another.

David Evans, analyst at Kepler Cheuvreux, stated that the market had expected Eli Lilly's orforglipron pill to emerge as a strong rival to Novo's weight-loss drugs, reported Reuters. According to Evans, investors are likely to “rethink the competitive outlook in the GLP-1 obesity drug market,” a shift that favours Novo’s oral semaglutide.

Despite Eli Lily’s results playing in favor of Novo Nordisk, the company continues to face challenges. Novo Nordisk recently cut its 2025 outlook due to compounded GLP-1s and increased competition.

Earlier, Novo Nordisk’s stock plummeted by as much as 25% in European markets after issuing a surprise profit warning tied to its blockbuster obesity drug Wegovy. This marked the second guidance cut of the year for the Danish pharmaceutical giant, leading to speculation that the weight-loss bubble might be bursting.