Wegovy and Zepbound are part of a wave of obesity medications known as GLP-1 receptor agonists that have soared in popularity due to the amount of weight people lose while taking the injections. Coverage of these drugs has been patchy due to in part to their cost and the wide swath of patients who could take them.

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.

A new study has found that people taking Eli Lilly’s obesity drug Zepbound lost almost 50% more weight than those using Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy. The study — published May 11 in the New England Journal of Medicine — followed 751 people across the U.