Being first to market with a drug can be crucial. Eli Lilly is proving that being second but better can also pay. Zepbound, the American firm’s weight-loss jab, was approved in its home country in November 2023, more than two years after Wegovy, made by Novo Nordisk, a Danish rival. Over the following year it yielded $4.9bn in revenue, more than half Wegovy’s $8.2bn. On May 7th Novo cut its sales forecast for 2025, citing “lower-than-planned” growth in weight-loss drugs. Its share price has fallen by a third since the start of 2024; Lilly’s has risen by about as much (see chart 1).
