Pfizer has secured Chinese regulatory approval for its GLP-1 weight management treatment Xianweiying, cleared for long-term use in overweight or obese adults. The US drugmaker announced the news via WeChat on Friday, entering a market that analysts project will be worth billions of dollars as competition among global and domestic players intensifies.
Xianweiying belongs to the GLP-1 receptor agonist class of drugs — the same category as treatments already sold in China by Novo Nordisk, Eli Lilly, and domestic biotech Innovent Biologics.
“This marks a breakthrough in the field of weight management,” Pfizer’s licensing partner Sciwind Biosciences said on its website.
Pfizer secured the mainland China commercialisation rights for Xianweiying, also known as ecnoglutide, from Sciwind — a Hangzhou-based biosciences company — in February. The licensing agreement was described at the time as “an important first step to advance Pfizer’s global strategy in the metabolic field in China,” according to a previous statement from Sciwind.
The competitive landscape in China’s weight-loss drug market is already taking shape. According to a note from investment bank Jefferies, sales of Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy on Alibaba’s Tmall and JD.com reached 260 million yuan ($38 million) in 2025, while Innovent’s rival product Xinermei generated 416 million yuan ($61 million) over the same period.
The Chinese approval strengthens Pfizer’s position in the rapidly expanding obesity drug sector. The company has also been building out its weight-loss portfolio more broadly, recently acquiring obesity drug developer Metsera and licensing an additional experimental GLP-1 compound from another developer.
A Pfizer spokesperson confirmed to Reuters that Xianweiying is administered as a once-weekly injection, but declined to provide details on pricing or a planned launch date in China. The drug is also already approved in the country as a treatment for Type 2 diabetes.
