Savvy pharma-stock investors know that an oral GLP-1 drug from Novo Nordisk called Rybelsus has been on the market as a diabetes treatment since 2019. It's an orally available version of semaglutide, which is the same active ingredient in Ozempic and Wegovy.

Eli Lilly said its experimental drug, orforglipron, helped people with Type 2 diabetes lower their blood sugar and lose weight. The company is hoping to bring the first GLP-1 weight-loss pill to market, The Wall Street Journal said.

The drug is still going through trials, but the medical company Lilly, behind it, is hopeful it can be rolled out soon. In recent years, people have turned to weight loss jabs instead to help them lose weight after they were approved for use by UK and US health bodies.