Raising the dose of Novo Nordisk A/S’s obesity drug Wegovy helped patients shed more pounds in a trial while still falling short of the weight loss seen with rival Eli Lilly & Co.’s Zepbound.

Lilly’s decision to offer vials has also been seen as its way to combat the rise in compounding. Patients have been turning to compounding pharmacies that make cheaper copies of Zepbound, since the branded treatment has been too costly and, up until recently, has been in shortage.

The results are an uncomfortable echo of late October 2024, when Mounjaro and Zepbound missed by similar margins. Those results unsettled investors, setting off a three-week sello