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. The data is the first head-to-head trial comparing the wildly popular medicines,

Participants who took tirzepatide — which is sold as Zepbound by Eli Lilly — lost an average of 50 pounds over 72 weeks. Those who took semaglutide — known as Novo Nordisk's Wegovy, lost about 33 pounds.

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.