SHANGHAI, March 6 (Reuters) - China has approved Pfizer's GLP-1 treatment Xianweiying for long-term weight management in overweight or obese adults, the US drugmaker said on WeChat on Friday, boosting competition in a market analysts expect to be worth billions in coming years.The injection belongs to the class of GLP-1 receptor agonist drugs sold locally by drugmakers such as Novo Nordisk, Eli Lilly, and Innovent Biologics.
"This marks a breakthrough in field of weight management," Sciwind Biosciences, from which Pfizer licensed mainland China commercialisation rights in February, said on its website.
Sales of Novo's Wegovy on Alibaba's Tmall e-commerce platform and JD.com were 260 million yuan ($38 million) in 2025, against 416 million ($61 million) for Innovent's Xinermei, investment bank Jefferies said in a note.
In February, Pfizer licensed the mainland China commercialisation rights for Xianweiying, also known as ecnoglutide, from Sciwind, based in the eastern city of Hangzhou.
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That deal was "an important first step to advance Pfizer's global strategy in the metabolic field in China", Sciwind said in a previous statement.
Ecnoglutide is also approved in China as a treatment for Type II diabetes.
A Pfizer spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment on pricing and a China launch date.
(Reporting by Andrew Silver; Editing by Christopher Cushing and Clarence Fernandez)