Eli Lilly gained Food and Drug Administration approval late Friday for its weight-loss drug, Zepbound, as a treatment for obstructive sleep apnea.
Obstructive sleep apnea, also called sleep suffocation, occurs when the upper airway repeatedly narrows or closes during sleep. This stops or reduces airflow. Patients typically wear a continuous positive airway pressure device, or CPAP.
In testing, Zepbound proved five times more effective than a placebo in reducing breathing disruptions in adults who didn't wear a CPAP. In adults using the sleep device, Zepbound recipients had 29 fewer breathing disruptions per hour, compared to a reduction of six for the placebo group.
Eli Lilly stock was unmoved on the news. But the announcement could pressure shares of ResMed, a maker of CPAP devices.
But Chief Executive Mick Farrell says most patients will benefit from the combination of a CPAP and a weight-loss drug like Zepbound. Further, the approval will likely stoke obstructive sleep apnea diagnosis rates, he told Investor's Business Daily in an April interview with Investor's Business Daily.
"I think the GLP-1s will bring patients into the funnel," he said.
In after-hours trades Friday, Eli Lilly stock rose almost 1% while ResMed stock remained flat.
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