CNN —Jared Holz thought about taking one of the new GLP-1 drugs for weight loss for months before he actually filled the prescription. At least a dozen similar experimental weight-loss drugs designed to be taken as pills are working their way through clinical trials, with the most advanced now in the third and final stage of testing. Dushay cited hopes that pill versions of GLP-1 drugs could ease shortages, come at lower cost and enhance convenience. The oral GLP-1 raceRight on the heels of oral semaglutide is a group of drugs led by Eli Lilly’s orforglipron, an oral medication that also targets GLP-1, which is a hormone implicated in insulin regulation, appetite and digestion. Drugmakers including Pfizer and Roche, as well as smaller companies like Structure Therapeutics, Terns Pharmaceuticals and Viking Therapeutics, also have oral weight-loss drugs in earlier stages of development, BMO research shows.

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Persons: Jared Holz, ” Holz, ”, Jody Dushay, Dushay, ” Dushay, it’s, Rybelsus, Jorge Moreno, “, ” Moreno, Eli Lilly’s orforglipron, Lilly, Evan Seigerman, amycretin, who’ve, Dr, Sanjay Gupta, Holz, he’s, he’d Organizations: CNN, Harvard Medical School, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical, Novo Nordisk, US Food and Drug Administration, Yale School of Medicine, BMO Capital Markets, Pfizer, Roche, Therapeutics, Terns Pharmaceuticals, Viking Therapeutics, BMO, Nordisk, European Association for, Diabetes, Inversago Pharma, CNN Health Locations: Danish, Novo