(Reuters) -Eli Lilly expects to start selling its weight-loss drug in Hong Kong as early as the end of this year, Bloomberg News reported on Sunday.
The drugmaker has received approval from the Hong Kong government to sell its tirzepatide injections — branded as Mounjaro — in a device called Kwikpen for both long-term weight management and type 2 diabetes, Eli Lilly (NYSE:) told Bloomberg in a statement.
Tirzepatide is the active ingredient in the U.S. firm’s diabetes drug Mounjaro, and weight-loss drug Zepbound.
Eli Lilly did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
The company had received approval from Chinese regulators for its weight-loss drug tirzepatide in July, further intensifying competition with Danish rival Novo Nordisk (NYSE:) in the key Asian market.
Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly are racing to increase production in a weight-loss market estimated to reach at least $100 billion globally by the end of the decade.
Both companies’ obesity treatments belong to a class of drugs originally developed for diabetes known as GLP-1 agonists.
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