Pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly is set to introduce its weight-loss drug in Hong Kong by the end of the year as the SAR government expanded a registration mechanism for medicines that would provide residents with more choices when it comes to the latest and most advanced drugs and therapy products.

Eli Lilly told Bloomberg in a statement that it has received approval from the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government to sell its tirzepatide injections — branded as Mounjaro — in a device called Kwikpen for both long-term weight management and type 2 diabetes.

Tirzepatide is the active ingredient in the US firm's diabetes drug Mounjaro, and weight-loss drug Zepbound.

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.

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Eli Lilly’s statement came as the HKSAR government said it will expand its "1+" mechanism for the registration of medicines to cover all new drugs, including vaccines and advanced therapy products, starting Nov 1.

The government said in a statement that the move, first announced by Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu in his 2024 Policy Address, will attract more new drugs from different parts of the world to register in Hong Kong, giving patients more choices and further strengthening local capacity for drug evaluation.

“We anticipate that with more and more drug companies aware of this, we are able to allow patients in Hong Kong, and even in the Greater Bay Area, to enjoy more advanced therapy products or new drugs of the most advanced (kind), thus elevating and improving the healthcare standard in the whole area,” Secretary for Health Lo Chung-mau said in a recent radio interview.

“Advanced therapy products mean not just drugs in the usual sense, but self-therapy or gene therapy, which involve the processing of patients’ own blood for treatment of very advanced cancers or diseases. This is very important,” he added.

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With patients getting a wider range of choices, Lo said the cost of the new treatments, drugs or advanced therapy products will be lowered.

“Thirdly, it will promote the development of R&D, research and development, in the area. This will be very important for the development of the R&D in the whole GBA,” he said.

Lo said that, through a “connect” measure, drugs and medical devices that have not yet been registered in the Chinese mainland but are already registered and used in the SAR, can be used in specific healthcare institutions in the GBA.

“This is very attractive for pharmaceutical companies because once the drugs or medical devices are approved and registered in Hong Kong and used in the public hospitals, these drugs and devices will be able to have a ‘green channel’ for use (among) the 68 million population in the GBA,” he said.

With Reuters inputs