Shares of Eli Lilly soared Thursday morning after the pharmaceutical giant announced a clinical trial of its once-daily weight loss pill, orforglipron, demonstrated effectiveness consistent with other injectable GLP-1 weight loss drugs, such as Lilly’s Mounjaro and Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic.

Diabetics given the pill called orforglipron lost 16 pounds, or 7.9% of their body weight, over a 40-week period.

Eli Lilly's experimental pill worked as well as blockbuster drug Ozempic to lower weight and blood sugar in a trial of diabetes patients, and the company said it expects to seek regulatory approvals by the end of the year.