Lilly China announced that Tilpotide Injection (trade name: Mufengda) has been officially launched in China. The first two indications of tilpotide were prescribed last week at Peking University People's Hospital and Fudan University Zhongshan Hospital respectively. On January 2, Eli Lilly China announced that Tilpotide Injection (trade name: Mufengda) was officially launched in China, covering both type 2 diabetes and weight loss indications. The two indications have been approved by the National Medical Products Administration in May and July 2024 respectively.
China Business News reporter learned that the first two indications of tilpotide were prescribed last week at Peking University People's Hospital and Fudan University Zhongshan Hospital respectively.
The monthly medication cost is more than 1,700 yuan
Different from Novo Nordisk's smeglutide (trade name: Novoin), which has been approved and commercialized in China before, tilpotide is the world's first GIP/GLP-1 dual-target single molecule peptide, which can achieve weight loss mainly by reducing body fat.
Professor Li Xiaoying from Zhongshan Hospital Affiliated to Fudan University, the principal investigator of Mu Fengda’s registered clinical study on long-term weight management indications in China, said: “Obesity is a chronic disease and is also related to the occurrence of many other diseases, so long-term and effective weight control is very important. This is different from the short-term pursuit of ‘weight loss’. Unlike rapid weight loss, long-term scientific weight management should not only focus on weight loss, but also on changes in body composition and body fat distribution. Tilpotide can achieve weight loss mainly by reducing body fat and reduce visceral fat and ectopic fat deposition, providing an effective means for long-term weight management in obese patients. "
At present, Tilpotide has not yet entered public hospitals including Beijing and Shanghai. Patients need to purchase this drug at retail pharmacies with a prescription issued in the hospital.
China Business News reporter learned that taking Shanghai First Pharmaceutical as an example, the retail price of tilpotide with the lowest dose of 2.5 mg/tube is 1,758 yuan for a box of four tubes, which is about a month's dosage and is fully paid by the patient. This pricing is also significantly higher than the already marketed semaglutide weight loss drug.
However, from the perspective of retail channels, the supply of tilpotide is still relatively tight. The reporter called several "hospital stores" and was told that the drug was not available. According to online e-commerce platform information, the price of tilpotide is about 2,250 yuan, and the price in some private clinics reaches 2,380 yuan, which is five to six hundred yuan higher than offline channels; it is nearly a thousand yuan higher than the price of 1,400 yuan a month for the lowest dose of Novoin on the e-commerce platform.
In response to the supply situation in the Chinese market, Eli Lilly responded to a reporter from China Business News: "Given the level of demand and fluctuations in the supply chain, there may be delays in arrival."
In addition, regarding whether to sell through e-commerce platforms, Eli Lilly said: "Each pharmacy decides whether to go online on e-commerce platforms based on its own operating conditions, service capabilities, and logistics capabilities. Most regular pharmacies are more cautious about e-commerce for cold chain distribution of drugs."
Competition between the two giants in weight loss drug efficacy escalates
As Tilpotide officially moves towards commercialization in China, the competition between Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk has also become fierce. Although the two drugs are both GLP-1 weight loss drugs, they are slightly different in terms of usage, function, efficacy, side effects, and price. How to choose has become a problem faced by doctors and patients.
First of all, from the perspective of the injection method, both drugs use injection pens, but Mu Fengda's injection pen is a "weekly disposable" injection pen. It is injected once a week and can be discarded after use. There are four pens in a month; while Novogen's pen can adjust the dose. Each time, it is adjusted according to the dose required for injection. It is generally used for one month and can be discarded after use.
At present, the biggest competition between these two drugs lies in their efficacy. Both drugs have been on the U.S. market for some time. Musk is a loyal user of this type of weight loss drug. In his opinion, the difference between the two is not big, although it "sounds different." However, after using the weight-loss drug Semaglutide, Musk recently revealed that he is using Eli Lilly’s Tilpotide.
Musk said in a social media tweet during Christmas: "Technically, I am using Mounjaro (Tilpotide), but the name does not sound that interesting." He also mentioned that high doses of semaglutide make him fart and burp as frequently as Barney in "The Simpsons", while Mounjaro seems to have fewer side effects.
China Business News reporter learned that the current maximum dose of semaglutide is 2.4mg and the maximum dose of tilpotide is 15mg. However, the maximum dose of tilpotide approved in China this time is 10mg, and 15mg has not yet been introduced into the market.
In this regard, an insider analyzed to a reporter from China Business News: "The higher the dose, the better the weight loss effect will be, but the easier it will be intolerance. Eli Lilly has not yet launched the highest dose in China, and it may be because it believes that the number of patients who can get this dose is relatively limited."
Eli Lilly responded to a reporter from China Business News: "The four specifications currently on the market in China can meet the treatment needs of the vast majority of patients. In the future, we will consider whether to launch higher doses based on market demand."
According to a phase 3 clinical study previously announced by Eli Lilly, during the 72-week treatment, the average weight of patients in the 10mg treatment group dropped by up to 21.4%; their waist circumference dropped by an average of 19.4cm.
The research results of semaglutide found that after 108 weeks of treatment, the weight loss of the 2.4 mg group of semaglutide reached 15.2%. According to Novo Nordisk's global STEP series of studies, the average weight loss effect of semaglutide was 17%.
In addition, Eli Lilly recently released a head-to-head phase 3b clinical study. The results showed that after 72 weeks of treatment in non-diabetic overweight adults who were obese or had at least one weight-related comorbidity, the weight loss effect of tilpotide (average weight loss 20.2%) was significantly better than that of semaglutide (average weight loss 13.7%). The relative weight loss achieved by the tilpotide group was 1.47 times that of the semaglutide group. In this clinical study, patients received the maximum tolerated dose of tilpotide 10 mg or 15 mg.
Ji Linong, director of the Department of Endocrinology at Peking University People's Hospital, said that the current international community's understanding of obesity is undergoing profound changes. Obesity is no longer simply regarded as a problem of weight gain, but has been redefined as a disease with clinical significance, and its diagnosis needs to combine indicators such as weight gain, functional impairment, and psychological disorders.
He also reminded that drugs such as Tilpotide are not suitable for everyone. For example, if patients with gastrointestinal diseases use this drug, it may aggravate gastrointestinal reactions; patients who have previously had active retinopathy and patients who have been diagnosed with thyroid cancer cannot use this drug.