The turnaround in the diet battle: the market leader falls behind as a rival hits a trillion-dollar valuation

The weight-loss drug war is breaking records, and the two giants that brought this revolution to the world have seen a dramatic turnaround in their market value. Less than three years ago, the Danish company Novo Nordisk ruled the market with an iron hand, but now Eli Lilly is making a massive overtake, trading at a valuation of about one trillion dollars — five times that of its competitor.

Reports for the second quarter of 2026 deepened the gap, as Eli Lilly reported record revenues of 23 billion dollars thanks to a meteoric rise in sales of the drugs Mounjaro and Zepbound. At Novo Nordisk, on the other hand, the numbers are starting to creak and sales in the USA have declined.

Now, the great battle has moved to a new front: weight-loss pills that replace injections. Eli Lilly has launched a new pill that can be taken at any time, while the tablet version of Wegovy yielded revenues lower than expectations. Producing pills is much cheaper and faster, and it is expected to open the market to millions of new patients worldwide.

At the same time, the drop in drug prices in the USA, alongside the decision of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to close the market for unofficial compounds, is returning billions of dollars to the pockets of the original companies. In Israel, where drugs are sold at prices significantly lower compared to the USA, patients are following the developments with anticipation.

As the global market is expected to reach hundreds of billions of dollars, the confrontation between the two is becoming particularly intense and is moving to court following a lawsuit over an advertising campaign. Now, as new forces enter the race with next-generation drugs, the war for the weight and pockets of patients is only just beginning.