March 16 (Reuters) - Structure Therapeutics said on Monday its pill helped patients lose up to 16.3% of their weight, strengthening ⁠its bid to challenge Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk in the increasingly competitive race to develop oral obesity drugs.

Patients on Structure's once-daily ⁠pill, aleniglipron, lost up to 39 lbs on the 180 mg dose after 44 weeks, compared with a placebo, ⁠in a mid-stage trial, the company ‌said, sending its shares up nearly 9%. There was no weight-loss plateau.

In December, the drug had shown weight loss of up to 15.3% at 36 weeks.

Drug developers are racing to enter the highly competitive and booming obesity market dominated by injectable drugs like Novo's Wegovy and Eli Lilly's Zepbound.

But momentum is ‌now shifting toward oral treatments that are easier to produce and could boost adherence, ​especially among ‌patients who prefer to avoid needles.

Ahead of the ‌data, H.C. Wainwright's Ananda Ghosh said the readout was the most "significant near-term catalyst for crystallizing M&A interest."

Structure CEO Raymond Stevens said ⁠in a call with analysts the company continues to ‌interact with potential acquirers or ⁠partners.

Analysts were also looking for limited ​discontinuations and lower vomiting rates to prove the ‌higher doses are potentially viable treatment options.

"Most critical was the extended tolerability now through median 20 weeks of treatment that appears highly competitive on vomiting and discontinuations while maintaining strong and consistent weight ​loss," Guggenheim's Seamus Fernandez said.

POTENTIALLY BEST IN CLASS

At least three analysts ‌said ‌the drug showed potential best-in-class weight loss, compared with the around 12% that Lilly's oral orforglipron showed.

"These ‌weight loss benefits by ​aleniglipron represent the highest efficacy to have been achieved by an oral ... comparable to injectable formulations," said Piper Sandler analyst Yasmeen Rahimi.

The company plans to start a late-stage trial in ⁠the second half of 2026.

In another study, patients receiving a lower dose experienced ‌16.2% weight loss at 56 weeks.

(Reporting by Sahil Pandey, Puyaan Singh and Sriparna Roy in ​Bengaluru; Editing by Sahal Muhammed and Devika Syamnath)