Shares in US-based Lilly fell 14.2 per cent on the trial results, while stock in Danish arch-rival Novo Nordisk, the maker of the pioneering Ozempic weight-loss drug, rose 6.7 per cent. Novo Nordisk has been losing share to Lilly in the US in injectable weight-loss drugs.

Eli Lilly said on Thursday that its experimental GLP-1 pill helped patients lose 12.4% of their body weight after 72 weeks in a late-stage study, less than previous trial results for Novo Nordisk's injectable obesity treatment Wegovy.