May 13, 2026

Lilly SURMOUNT-MAINTAIN Lancet + ATTAIN-MAINTAIN Nature Medicine, Viking VK2735 Oral 12.2%, Wegovy Pill OASIS 4 21.6% Early Responders, ORION Wegovy vs Foundayo

ECO Day 2: Lilly MAINTAIN dual publication, Viking VK2735 oral 12.2%, Wegovy Pill OASIS 4 21.6% early responders, ORION Wegovy vs Foundayo ITC, PepGen DM1.

10 stories · Covering clinical-trials, research, industry

Editor's Note

ECO 2026 Day 2 in Istanbul delivered the largest GLP-1 maintenance data set the field has seen. Eli Lilly published simultaneous SURMOUNT-MAINTAIN results in The Lancet and ATTAIN-MAINTAIN results in Nature Medicine on May 12: SURMOUNT-MAINTAIN showed lower-dose Zepbound (tirzepatide 5 mg) preserved all but 5.6 kg of maximum-tolerated-dose weight loss at week 112, while ATTAIN-MAINTAIN showed Foundayo (orforglipron) maintained 79.3% of injectable-treatment weight loss vs 37.6% on placebo — patients switching from Wegovy MTD lost only 0.9 kg additional, and Zepbound MTD switchers lost 5.0 kg. Viking Therapeutics' Phase 2 VENTURE-Oral full data presented May 12 showed oral VK2735 produced dose-dependent weight loss up to 12.2% (26.6 lbs) at 13 weeks with early Week 1 progression, supporting Q4 2026 Phase 3 plans. The Day 2 Novo Nordisk slate included new OASIS 4 subanalyses of the Wegovy pill (oral semaglutide 25 mg) — 27% of patients were early responders averaging 21.6% body weight loss at trial end, and 77.3% with poor baseline physical function achieved clinically meaningful mobility improvement vs 42.9% on placebo. The same OASIS 4 ITC analysis showed the Wegovy pill produced greater weight loss than orforglipron 36 mg with 14x lower odds of GI-driven discontinuation. Novo CEO Mike Doustdar's Q1 outlook commentary confirmed Wegovy pill international launches in H2 2026 with EU approval expected before year-end. On the non-GLP-1 side, PepGen announced a strategic pivot to its DM1 program after the 10 mg/kg PGN-EDO51 cohort delivered only 0.59% dystrophin in Duchenne muscular dystrophy — the FREEDOM2-DM1 Phase 2 program is now the lead clinical asset. A May 12 GlobeNewswire industry report projected the consumer peptide wellness market could approach $300B as the GHK-Cu, BPC-157, and TB-500 categories mainstream into supplements and cosmetics ahead of the July PCAC meeting. A March 2026 Frontiers in Bioinformatics review out of UNSW Sydney documented AI-driven antimicrobial peptide discovery achieving a 94.4% hit rate in 48 days — collapsing the traditional discovery timeline.

Clinical Trials

Eli Lilly Joint Publication May 12: SURMOUNT-MAINTAIN (Lancet) + ATTAIN-MAINTAIN (Nature Medicine) — Both Trials Confirm Weight Maintenance After Switch from Maximum-Tolerated Injectable Doses

Eli Lilly published SURMOUNT-MAINTAIN in The Lancet and ATTAIN-MAINTAIN in Nature Medicine on May 12, with concurrent presentation at ECO 2026 in Istanbul. SURMOUNT-MAINTAIN tested lower-dose Zepbound (tirzepatide 5 mg) vs maximum tolerated dose: at week 112, MTD preserved all weight loss while the 5 mg arm lost only 5.6 kg additional. ATTAIN-MAINTAIN tested Foundayo (orforglipron) as a switch from injectable GLP-1s in SURMOUNT-5 participants: orforglipron preserved 79.3% of injectable-phase weight loss vs 37.6% on placebo at week 52; Wegovy MTD switchers regained only 0.9 kg, Zepbound MTD switchers regained 5.0 kg. The dual readout reframes the maintenance-versus-discontinuation conversation: dose-tapering and oral-switching strategies now have Phase 3 evidence behind them, validating the long-term-treatment chronic-disease framing.

#eli-lilly #surmount-maintain #attain-maintain #tirzepatide #zepbound #orforglipron #foundayo #lancet #nature-medicine #eco-2026

Clinical Trials

Viking Therapeutics VK2735 Oral Phase 2 VENTURE-Oral Full 13-Week Data (May 12 ECO): 12.2% Mean Weight Loss (26.6 lbs) Dose-Dependent, Week 1 Onset

Viking Therapeutics presented full 13-week Phase 2 VENTURE-Oral data at ECO 2026 May 12 in Istanbul: once-daily oral VK2735 produced statistically significant, dose-dependent mean weight loss up to 12.2% (26.6 lbs) over 13 weeks with placebo-adjusted significance starting at Week 1. The favorable tolerability profile and rapid early onset of effect support Viking's Q4 2026 plan to initiate a Phase 3 trial of the oral formulation following positive FDA feedback. The data complements the Phase 3 VANQUISH-1 subcutaneous program (4,650 patients enrolled November 2025) and VANQUISH-2 in T2D+obesity (~1,000 patients, enrollment completed March 26, 2026). VK2735's dual GLP-1/GIP mechanism puts it in direct comparison with tirzepatide and the next-generation Mounjaro/Zepbound franchise.

#viking-therapeutics #vk2735 #venture-oral #oral-glp-1 #dual-agonist #eco-2026 #phase-2

Clinical Trials

Novo Wegovy Pill OASIS 4 Subanalyses at ECO 2026 (May 13): 21.6% Body Weight Loss in Early Responders + 77.3% Achieve Mobility Improvement

Novo Nordisk presented new OASIS 4 subanalyses of the Wegovy pill (oral semaglutide 25 mg) at ECO 2026 on May 13. Nearly one third (29%) of patients were classified as 'early responders' — losing at least 10% body weight by week 16 — and continued treatment to 64 weeks for a mean 21.6% body weight loss vs 13.2% at four months. A separate physical function analysis showed 77.3% of patients with poor baseline physical function achieved clinically meaningful improvement (bending over, standing comfortably, staying active) vs 42.9% on placebo. The data adds to the OASIS 4 February 2026 16.6% mean weight-loss headline by stratifying patients on early response — a likely tool for prescribers thinking about dose escalation and persistence.

#novo-nordisk #wegovy-pill #oral-semaglutide #oasis-4 #early-responders #physical-function #eco-2026

Research

Wegovy Pill ORION ITC at ECO 2026 (May 13): Oral Semaglutide 25 mg Delivers Greater Weight Loss + 14x Lower GI Discontinuation vs Orforglipron 36 mg

An ORION indirect treatment comparison presented at ECO 2026 on May 13 framed the head-to-head competition between Novo's Wegovy pill (oral semaglutide 25 mg) and Lilly's Foundayo (orforglipron 36 mg). The Wegovy pill delivered statistically significant greater mean weight loss than orforglipron, with patients on orforglipron showing approximately 14x higher odds of discontinuing treatment due to gastrointestinal side effects. The May 13 framing complements Novo's Q1 print disclosure that Wegovy holds 65% of all new US GLP-1 prescriptions; CEO Mike Doustdar's CNBC commentary called the moment a 'turnaround situation' for the Danish company. The ORION ITC matters as a prescriber-decision tool given the two compounds are now the only two FDA-approved oral GLP-1s for chronic weight management.

#novo-nordisk #wegovy-pill #oral-semaglutide #orforglipron #foundayo #orion-itc #indirect-treatment-comparison #eco-2026

Industry

Novo Nordisk Q2 Outlook: Wegovy Pill International Launches Confirmed for H2 2026, EU Approval Expected Before Year-End

Novo Nordisk Q1 management commentary delivered alongside the ECO 2026 data updates confirmed that the Wegovy pill (oral semaglutide 25 mg) will launch in select international markets in the second half of 2026 with European approval expected before year-end. The international rollout follows the January 5 US launch that delivered DKK 2.26B (~$354M) in Q1 sales — nearly double the DKK 1.16B analyst consensus — on roughly 1.3 million Q1 prescriptions and >2M cumulative US prescriptions. Wegovy now holds 65% of all new US GLP-1 prescriptions; Novo tightened its full-year guidance to a 4-12% sales decline (from 5-13%). The international expansion is the inflection point for Novo's competitive positioning vs Lilly's Foundayo and the next-generation Mounjaro/Zepbound franchise.

#novo-nordisk #wegovy-pill #international-launch #europe #q1-2026 #guidance-raise

Industry

Peptide Wellness Market Could Approach $300 Billion as Consumer Demand Accelerates Ahead of July PCAC (May 12 GlobeNewswire)

A May 12 GlobeNewswire industry report frames the consumer peptide wellness market as approaching $300B globally on accelerating mainstream demand for science-backed peptide products spanning energy, recovery, metabolism, healthy aging, fitness, and overall well-being. The report tracks the post-Category-2 commercial cycle for BPC-157, TB-500, GHK-Cu, sermorelin, and the broader peptide supplement and cosmeceutical landscape — including OMI Wellbeauty's hair-growth peptides, Neurogan's 2% GHK-Cu body care, Auro Wellness's copper tripeptide serum, and the early-stage longevity peptide programs at Hims & Hers and LifeMD. The framing arrives six weeks ahead of the FDA's PCAC July 23-24 meeting that will decide compounding-pharmacy status for seven additional peptides including Emideltide (DSIP), Semax, and Epitalon.

#peptide-wellness #consumer-products #market-forecast #bpc-157 #ghk-cu #tb-500 #pcac

Clinical Trials

PepGen Pivots to DM1: Discontinues DMD Program After 10 mg/kg PGN-EDO51 Delivers Only 0.59% Dystrophin, Focuses on FREEDOM2-DM1 Phase 2

PepGen announced in May 2026 a strategic pivot away from Duchenne muscular dystrophy after the 10 mg/kg cohort of CONNECT1-EDO51 produced only 0.59% of normal dystrophin levels in four patients — well below the threshold of clinical meaningfulness. The company will discontinue DMD program development and focus on the FREEDOM2-DM1 Phase 2 program in myotonic dystrophy type 1, with 5 mg/kg cohort data anticipated. PepGen's Enhanced Delivery Oligonucleotide (EDO) platform conjugates peptide carriers to phosphorodiamidate morpholino oligomers (PMOs) for tissue-targeted delivery. The DM1 program competes with Vertex's VX-670 cyclic peptide-oligonucleotide conjugate (GALILEO Phase 1/2, H2 2026 readout) and Sarepta/Avidity Biosciences in the same indication.

#pepgen #pgn-edo51 #duchenne-muscular-dystrophy #myotonic-dystrophy #dm1 #freedom2-dm1 #edo-platform

Research

Frontiers in Bioinformatics (March 17, 2026): UNSW Computational AMP Discovery Review — Large Language Models Achieved 94.4% Hit Rate in 48 Days

A Frontiers in Bioinformatics review published March 17, 2026 from Tope Abraham Ibisanmi and colleagues at UNSW Sydney documents how computational antimicrobial peptide discovery has collapsed from decades to weeks. The review covers big-data mining, molecular dynamics simulations, and AI methods that capture complex sequence-activity relationships and predict novel AMPs from genomic and metagenomic data. The headline example: one large language model approach produced 18 de novo peptides of which 17 were active (94.4% hit rate) over a 48-day discovery cycle. The framing complements the broader AMP-as-AMR-response thesis with Aifeity, the University of Bonn, and Cesar de la Fuente at Penn — and lands as Cesar de la Fuente's Penn lab launches new generative AMR molecules into ESKAPE-pathogen testing.

#frontiers #bioinformatics #antimicrobial-peptides #ai-drug-design #unsw #amr #large-language-models

Clinical Trials

CagriSema REDEFINE 1 BMI + Waist-to-Height Ratio Treatment Targets at ECO 2026 (May 12): 50.7% of Treated Patients Reach BMI <30 vs 10.2% Placebo

Novo Nordisk's CagriSema REDEFINE 1 treatment-target analysis presented as an oral presentation at ECO 2026 on May 12 reported that the cagrilintide + semaglutide combination drove a higher percentage of participants to clinically meaningful BMI and waist-to-height ratio (WHtR) targets than any monotherapy or placebo arm. 50.7% of CagriSema-treated participants reached BMI <30 at week 68 vs 10.2% on placebo, and participants reaching BMI <27 plus WHtR <0.53 showed normalization of cardiometabolic parameters at higher rates than non-achievers. A companion REDEFINE 1 cardiovascular risk analysis scheduled for May 14 ECO presentation tracks predicted atherosclerotic CVD risk reduction. The data complements the May 12 body-composition substudy (35.7% fat-mass loss vs 14.4% lean tissue loss).

#cagrisema #redefine-1 #novo-nordisk #bmi #waist-to-height-ratio #cardiovascular-risk #eco-2026

Industry

ECO 2026 Cross-Trial Sector Wrap (May 12-13): NVO +6% Premarket, LLY Flat, Convergence Week Validates the Long-Term Treatment Thesis

Sector stock reaction across May 12-13: Novo Nordisk ADRs popped roughly 6% premarket May 12 on the early-responder + women's-data combination and the OASIS 4 mobility analyses; Eli Lilly traded flat as the SURMOUNT-MAINTAIN and ATTAIN-MAINTAIN dual publication confirmed expected maintenance positioning rather than producing fresh upside surprises. Analysts noted the broader 'long-term treatment' thesis — that GLP-1 obesity drugs are chronic-disease medications, not short courses — got concrete trial backing this week between SURMOUNT-MAINTAIN, ATTAIN-MAINTAIN, and STEP UP early-responder analyses. The week's narrative shift sets up the May 14-15 ECO Day 3+4 cycle and the May 29-June 2 ASCO 2026 meeting in Chicago — where peptide-drug conjugates (Bicycle BT8009, Avacta AVA6000, Pfizer FAP-Dox) take the next round of clinical-data spotlights.

#novo-nordisk #eli-lilly #nvo-stock #lly-stock #eco-2026 #convergence-week #long-term-treatment