Citi has said Novo Nordisk's (NYSE:NVO) Wegovy pill is outpacing its rivals in the United States, even as competition in the oral weight-loss market intensifies.
The broker's prescription tracker showed the oral version of Wegovy reached around 152,000 US prescriptions in its 24th week of launch, in the week ending 19 June.
That was down 6% week on week, though Citi noted the figure was affected by the Juneteenth holiday, which shortened the trading week.
On a four-week rolling average basis, prescriptions were up 2%.
The bank said the Wegovy pill was running at roughly twice the rate of Eli Lilly's Zepbound at the same point in its launch, based on IQVIA data.
It cautioned that the figures did not fully capture the direct-to-patient cash-pay channel.
Citi also tracked the early progress of Lilly's oral GLP-1 drug Foundayo, which launched on 9 April.
That captured 20,594 prescriptions in the week ending 19 June, its tenth full week.
The comparable figure for the Wegovy pill in its tenth full week was 89,279, though Citi said capture rates were variable and it remained early in the launch.
