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DEEP RESEARCH · EASD 2025 / BIOTECH

EASD 2025: Competitive Shifts in Diabetes and Obesity Therapeutics

Novo Nordisk’s cardiovascular-data defense, Lilly’s weight-loss lead, and niche strategies from Hanmi and ProGen

Published: 2025-09-16 · Biotech/obesity-drug competitive intelligence · Original Naver Blog post

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0. Bottom line first

The EASD 2025 theme is that competition is expanding from “which drug produces more weight loss?” to “which drug proves better clinical outcomes and reaches differentiated patient groups?” Lilly’s tirzepatide led semaglutide in SURMOUNT-5 with 20.2% average weight loss at 72 weeks versus 13.7%. Novo Nordisk is defending with semaglutide cardiovascular benefits and Rybelsus’s MACE-risk-reduction indication. In Korea, Hanmi is opening a “quality of weight loss” angle around muscle preservation/gain, while ProGen targets lean diabetes patients.

Diabetes and obesity drug competitionSource frame for EASD 2025
LillyWeight-loss efficacy lead
NovoCardiovascular outcome data
HanmiQuality of weight loss and muscle
ProGenLean diabetes precision targeting
Next-generation winners must prove weight loss, safety, convenience, outcomes, and patient segmentation.

1. GLP-1 market: from oligopoly to differentiation

Official fact: The source says Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly control about 90% of the GLP-1 market. EASD 2025 is held in Vienna, Austria, from September 15 to 19, 2025.

Official fact: In the SURMOUNT-5 head-to-head trial, tirzepatide is summarized as producing 20.2% average weight loss at week 72 versus 13.7% for semaglutide.

Interpretation: On weight loss alone, Lilly’s advantage is strong. Novo is therefore shifting the battlefield toward cardiovascular event reduction and real clinical outcomes rather than fighting only on maximum weight loss.

2. Novo Nordisk defense: cardiovascular outcomes and oral therapy

ItemSource detailMeaning
RybelsusEMA added a MACE-risk-reduction indicationDifferentiated oral GLP-1 with proven cardiovascular benefit
SOULOver four years, 14% lower risk of CV death, heart attack, or stroke versus placeboOutcome data beyond weight loss
STEERNovo said Wegovy reduced cardiovascular event risk 57% more than ZepboundReal-world-data defense argument
Restructuring9,000 job cuts targeting DKK 8 billion in annual cost savingsFunding R&D reinvestment amid competition

3. Korean companies: solving different problems

Hanmi

Quality of weight loss

Rather than simply maximizing weight loss, Hanmi targets the unmet need of muscle preservation or gain. The source mentions six obesity-drug presentations at EASD.

ProGen

PG-102

With a GLP-1/GLP-2-based approach, ProGen targets a specific lean-diabetes patient group. The source treats three oral presentations as the key event.

Orals

Convenience plus efficacy

Next-generation oral therapies need both efficacy and dosing convenience to become blockbuster candidates.

4. What I would track next

  • How quickly Lilly fills the cardiovascular-outcome data gap for tirzepatide
  • Whether Rybelsus and semaglutide outcome data change prescribing and payer logic
  • Whether Hanmi’s muscle preservation/gain data replicates in human clinical studies
  • Whether ProGen’s PG-102 proves efficacy, safety, and manufacturability in its target patient group

Sources

Naver original