By Ed SilvermanMay 21, 2026
Pharmalot Columnist, Senior Writer
Good morning, everyone, and how are you today? We are doing just fine, thank you, despite the soggy skies hovering over the otherwise peaceful Pharmalot campus. After all, the Morning Mayor once advised us that “every new day should be unwrapped like a precious gift.” So go ahead, tug on the ribbon while we will brew yet another cuppa stimulation. Our choice today is ginger peach. For the full experience, we are now hawking replicas — take a look. Meanwhile, here are a few tidbits to help you along. We hope your day is productive and peaceful. As always, do keep in touch and do feel free to send along secret dossiers and internal memos.…
Eli Lilly reported that in a late-stage trial, its next-generation obesity drug led to levels of weight loss approaching the effectiveness seen with bariatric surgery, but there were high rates of side effects and discontinuations, raising questions about how appealing the treatment would be, STAT says. In the Phase 3 study, which enrolled obese and overweight people without diabetes, those on the highest dose who stayed on treatment, lost on average 28.3% of their weight after 80 weeks. But 11% of the patients on the highest dose discontinued due to adverse events, and when analyzing all patients, including those who discontinued, the efficacy was 25%. In pivotal trials of Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy and Lilly’s Zepbound, those rates were 7%.
