Eli Lilly to invest $3 billion in China, seeks approval for weight loss pill

SHANGHAI, March 11 (Reuters) – Eli Lilly plans to invest $3 billion in China over the next decade, which will help build production capacity for its experimental type-2 diabetes and obesity treatment orforglipron, the U.S. drugmaker said in a statement on Wednesday.

The company submitted a marketing application for orforglipron to China’s drug regulator at the end of 2025, Lilly said in its statement on WeChat.

Orforglipron, Lilly’s once-daily oral non-peptide GLP-1 agonist, helped overweight adults without diabetes lose 12.4% of their body weight over 72 weeks at the highest dose in a late-stage trial.

In ​another study, orforglipron helped maintain weight loss in patients switching from its GLP-1 injection, known as Zepbound in the U.S., and rival Novo ⁠Nordisk’s Wegovy.

Lilly also aims to establish a localised manufacturing and supply system for oral solid dosage forms, the statement said. 

The company is the latest Western healthcare firm to announce additional manufacturing investment plans in China, following the likes of Haleon and AstraZeneca earlier this year.

Lilly’s announcement comes ahead of a summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and China’s Xi Jinping this month.

Not all drugmakers are pursuing this path, however. 

U.S. group Bristol Myers Squibb said in September it had signed an agreement to sell its 60% ownership stake in a pharmaceutical joint venture in China. A manufacturing facility in Shanghai was part of that venture. 

(Reporting by Andrew Silver and Beijing Newsroom; Editing by Mark Potter and Saad Sayeed)