The obesity drug helped patients reduce their waist size by an extra two inches compared to those on Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy in a head-to-head study of the two drugs.

A study of two blockbuster weight-loss drugs showed that users of Eli Lilly’s Zepbound lost just over 2 inches more off their waists compared with Novo Nordisk’s rival Wegovy. At 72 weeks, participants using Zepbound saw an average weight-loss reduction of 20.

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.