Their latest target is a class of drugs first designed to manage blood sugar that has since become the most coveted weight-loss tool on the planet, reshaping pharmacy shelves, celebrity bodies, and the business model of personal trainers everywhere.
The drugs, known as GLP-1 receptor agonists, mimic a gut hormone that curbs appetite and slows digestion. Marketed by Denmark's Novo Nordisk as Wegovy and by Eli Lilly as Mounjaro and Zepbound, they have delivered double-digit weight loss in clinical trials and turned obesity treatment into one of the most lucrative frontiers in modern medicine.
The numbers are staggering. Mounjaro and Zepbound together accounted for nearly 56 percent of Eli Lilly's $65.2 billion in revenue in 2025. Novo Nordisk's diabetes and obesity segment generated roughly $44 billion. Lilly's CEO has said 20 to 25 million patients are now on the two companies' drugs.
What began as a medical breakthrough has long since spilled into popular culture. In Korea, interest in Wegovy surged after Bang Si-hyuk — the once-portly chairman of K-pop powerhouse HYBE — appeared markedly slimmer in public, reportedly with the drug's help.
Overseas, a parade of slimmed-down celebrities has fueled a social-media frenzy that critics say glamorizes a dangerous thinness.
The hype has outrun both the supply chains and, at times, the science. Studies show the drugs must be taken indefinitely to keep weight off; research published this year found that patients who quit regain weight up to four times faster than those who stop conventional dieting.
Researchers are still mapping the fuller picture. Large observational analyses have linked semaglutide to sharply lower rates of Alzheimer's diagnosis — but the first major Phase III trials, reported in March, found that an oral form of the drug did not slow the disease's progression. A separate concern, that the drugs strip muscle along with fat, has driven much of the current innovation race. More recent studies temper the alarm, suggesting the apparent loss comes largely from liver and other tissue rather than skeletal muscle, and that strength is mostly preserved.
Cost has divided the world into haves and have-nots. In the United States, list prices have topped $1,000 a month, pushing some patients to buy abroad. In China, Wegovy launched at around $193. Indian generics — available after patents lapsed there — have appeared for as little as $14.
Korea sits somewhere in between. Wegovy is not covered by national health insurance, leaving patients to pay 400,000 to 800,000 won (roughly $290 to $580) per four-week pen, though a price war touched off by Mounjaro's arrival has since pushed some clinics lower. That gap, combined with easy access through clinics and telemedicine apps, has bred misuse: prescriptions have flowed from psychiatry, dentistry, and ophthalmology offices.
On Wednesday the country's drug-safety ministry said it would tighten controls on overseas purchases and customs clearance, citing a surge in purely cosmetic use.
It is into this turbulent, fast-globalizing market that Korean firms are pressing their case — not as pioneers, but as fast followers betting on better formats and lower prices.
The local push rests on three ideas: pills for the needle-averse, longer-lasting injections, and drugs that spare muscle. A 2025 survey across 21 countries found 62 percent of respondents preferred oral weight-loss drugs over injectables, which drew only 16 percent.
Hanmi Pharmaceutical said Wednesday it will present eight studies on two obesity candidates at the American Diabetes Association meeting in New Orleans next week, including the first disclosure of HM500197, a peptide designed to build muscle while cutting fat.
Celltrion said Friday it had begun primate toxicity testing of CT-G32, a drug acting on four biological targets simultaneously, with a regulatory filing planned for the first half of next year and an oral version targeted for 2028. Samsung has joined the race too, with Samsung Bioepis striking a March deal to develop a monthly version of semaglutide and Samsung Biologics weighing U.S. manufacturing plants.
"Both Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly spoke at an international aging conference last year about developing GLP-1 as an anti-aging treatment," said Oh Doo-byoung, head of the institute's Aging Research Institute.
"Many experts believe obesity drives aging by triggering inflammation, and there is an idea that GLP-1 could counter that — and even help reverse aging, though nothing is settled yet."
Oh added that his institute is exploring exercise-mimicking drugs to see how they might help older people losing muscle mass. "There are honestly so many indications that some call it a cure-all," he said. "If an anti-aging drug is developed, it too could likely be used across a wide range of conditions."
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