Eli Lilly said on Sunday its drug Zepbound was superior to Novo Nordisk's Wegovy across five weight-loss targets such as reducing waist circumference, citing data from a head-to-head trial. The data is the first head-to-head trial comparing the wildly popular medicines,

Eli Lilly and Co's obesity drug Zepbound led to greater weight loss than Novo Nordisk's Wegovy in a head-to-head Phase 3b trial, according to data published in The New England Journal of Medicine and presented at the European Congress on Obesity.

In addition to eliciting greater weight loss than Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy, Eli Lilly’s Zepbound does not come at the expense of safety, according to newly released comprehensive tolerability data—findings that Leerink analysts say confirm the GLP-1 drug’s edge in the closely watched market race.