Lilly’s Quiet Contender? Eloralintide Posts Impressive Weight Loss Just as Novo Takes the Spotlight

All eyes were on Novo Nordisk this week as the company announced that Amycretin, its new dual action amylin and GLP 1 receptor agonist, is moving into Phase 3 trials in both oral and injectable forms. That followed news that CagriSema is on track to launch in early 2026, setting Novo up as the early frontrunner in the amylin revival.

But while Novo made the loudest headlines, something quieter and possibly just as important slipped into view.

On Friday, ahead of the American Diabetes Association’s annual meeting, new Phase 1 data dropped for eloralintide, an experimental amylin receptor agonist backed by Eli Lilly. In a 12 week trial of 100 patients, weight loss ranged from 2.6 to 11.3 percent depending on the dose. And it came with surprisingly low rates of side effects. Just 10 percent of participants reported diarrhea and only 8 percent reported vomiting. That stands in sharp contrast to the nausea and GI distress many patients experience on GLP 1 medications like Wegovy and Zepbound.

Eloralintide is also being tested in combination with Zepbound, giving Lilly the option to build a flexible treatment platform rather than a single one size fits all therapy. While Novo is moving fast with fixed molecule combos like CagriSema and Amycretin, Lilly might be taking a longer view. Instead of one giant leap, they appear to be constructing a modular toolkit, Zepbound for incretins, eloralintide for amylin, and a chance to mix and match based on patient needs.

Last week, Metsera added more fuel to the amylin fire with early data from its once monthly analog, MET 233i. The company reported up to 8.4 percent weight loss over just 36 days, adjusted against placebo. We broke it down in a Substack article, and while the results were promising, Metsera is still in its early stages. Lilly, by contrast, has both the capital and the clinical engine to scale quickly once a signal is confirmed.

The question now is whether eloralintide will become Lilly’s answer to CagriSema, or something even bigger. With more safety and dosing data expected next week at the ADA meeting in Chicago, the story is far from over. But one thing is clear in the race for obesity medicine king-of-the-hill. The second Novo made a okay to recapture momentum, Lilly was there waiting to counter.

Amylin, once an afterthought in obesity medicine, is suddenly center stage.

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