People who took the daily pill orforglipron lost 12 percent of body weight on average after 72 weeks, according to clinical trial results from Lilly.

In the first Phase 3 trial of its once-daily oral GLP-1 pill in people with obesity, drugmaker Eli Lilly said Thursday that it helped people lower their weight by an average of 12% after 72 weeks.

A former college athlete, 51-year-old Charles never thought he'd have to worry about his weight. But football injuries and a sedentary adulthood drove up his weight — until he started taking Zepbound.

Eli Lilly's experimental oral pill, orforglipron, shows promise in obesity treatment, with participants experiencing an average 12% body weight loss in a Phase 3 trial. The study, involving overweight or obese adults,

Eli Lilly will seek regulatory approval for its next-generation weight-loss pill by year-end, based on data that suggests it may not be as potent as injectable GLP-1 drugs on the market.

Eli Lilly is one step closer to bringing an oral weight loss medicine to the booming obesity drug market. A clinical trial saw people lose 12% of body weight.

Eli Lilly, the maker of Zepbound and Mounjaro, said its experimental GLP-1 pill successfully helped adults with obesity lose weight in a Phase 3 trial, as the company moves closer to submitting the drug for approval from the Food and Drug Administration.

Lilly and other companies that make similar medicines have been racing to create oral weight-loss drugs, since weekly injections are not always appealing to patients. The trial included more than 3,100 overweight or obese adults who had an obesity-related medical problem but not diabetes.

Eli Lilly said on Thursday that its experimental GLP-1 pill helped patients lose 12.4% of their body weight after 72 weeks in a late-stage study, less than previous trial results for Novo Nordisk's injectable obesity treatment Wegovy.