(Reuters) -Eli Lilly said on Wednesday its experimental pill, orforglipron, helped reduce blood sugar levels in two late-stage trials.

The oral drug is designed to mimic the appetite-suppressing GLP-1 hormone targeted by the company’s blockbuster injection tirzepatide, sold under the brand names Mounjaro and Zepbound.

In one of the studies, Lilly’s pill helped lower A1C, a measure of blood sugar over time, by up to 1.7% compared to 0.8% with AstraZeneca’s drug dapagliflozin. The head-to-head trial was conducted in adults with type 2 diabetes inadequately controlled on metformin, a widely used to drug used to treat high blood sugar levels.

In the other trial, orforglipron lowered A1C by an additional 2.1% when taken with insulin glargine.

(Reporting by Sriparna Roy and Siddhi Mahatole i

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