Alibaba, JD.com, and Meituan are vying to "give out money" to encourage you to lose weight.

Text | Hu Xiangyun

Editor | Hai Ruojing

In 2025, an even greater influx of funds has poured into the GLP - 1 weight - loss market than ever before.

On October 14th, Kailera, a NewCo company centered around the GLP - 1 drugs under Hengrui Medicine, secured a $600 million Series B financing, an amount that astonished the industry. During the same period, companies such as Xianweida Biotech, Chengyi Biotech, and Borui Medicine successively submitted their IPO prospectuses; the stock prices of listed companies like Pigeon Biotech have multiplied several times.

However, capital's bets on the GLP - 1 track are no longer just about the expectation of successful R & D. With five GLP - 1 injectable products already on the market and dozens of drugs in development, what these investors really care about is which company can achieve higher commercialization efficiency - in other words, who can sell GLP - 1 products better, which is the ultimate commercial outcome they are focused on.

Domestically approved GLP - 1 weight - loss drugs (data from public information)

But real challenges lie ahead. In the in - hospital market, which is the core sales area for prescription drugs, there are high thresholds for prescribing and rules such as hospital procurement quotas, posing challenges for newly launched GLP - 1 weight - loss products to enter hospitals.

Seeing that it's difficult to make the most of a good hand, the industry has started looking for new outlets. With stronger coverage capabilities, Internet e - commerce has become an important sales channel. Pharmaceutical companies hope that e - commerce platforms can quickly cultivate consumer habits, lower the conversion threshold, and open up a new sales path for GLP - 1 products.

So, how will e - commerce platforms drive the explosive growth of GLP - 1 products? What kind of industry development trends are hidden behind this boom?

The E - commerce Battle of Weight - Loss Miracle Drugs

At the end of 2024, when Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly started selling their weight - loss versions of GLP - 1 products, the e - commerce battle of "weight - loss miracle drugs" quietly began. In 2025, with the launch of domestic hypoglycemic/weight - loss drugs, this battle for market channels has reached a fever pitch.

In the view of some industry insiders, this is a process where the market is forcing multinational pharmaceutical companies to shift from the hospital - end to a "consumer - oriented" model. A couple of years ago, multinational pharmaceutical companies were not very enthusiastic about selling GLP - 1 products through e - commerce. At that time, Chinese pharmaceutical companies had not yet flocked to the GLP - 1 track, and the competitive environment was relatively mild. Internally, established pharmaceutical companies were more conservative, attaching more importance to the compliance of prescription drugs and worrying about the risk of abuse after the channels were opened. Therefore, traditional in - hospital channels, retail pharmacies, and physical examination centers and other offline institutions were still the top choices.

However, this year, with the favorable policy of the national "Year of Weight Management", the general consumer market's awareness of GLP - 1 weight - loss products has rapidly deepened. Coupled with the entry of domestic GLP - 1 weight - loss drugs into the market, multinational pharmaceutical companies have gradually wavered. It is reported that to persuade Novo Nordisk to list its products on the platform, the top executive in charge of the health field of an e - commerce company "personally flew to its overseas headquarters".

JD Health has directly stated that by 2030, the scale of GLP - 1 in the weight - loss field will exceed 30 billion yuan, and the Internet medical channel will account for more than 50% of the market share.

An industry insider in charge of the instant retail business of GLP - 1 products at a leading e - commerce platform said bluntly that the "marketing strategy of GLP - 1 has completely become that of a consumer product". If in 2024, the focus was on clinical data, prescriptions, and doctor education, now it has become "how to make the products better known, seen, selected, and repurchased by consumers".

"In the past, the logic of selling in - hospital prescription drugs was 'obedience'. We were more concerned about whether doctors needed them. But now, our first concern is how many end - consumers in the market recognize and need them. For example, in the past, we had to memorize many difficult and obscure terms. Today, we care more about how to translate these terms into something users can understand, how to help people overcome their fear of needles, and then return to the issue of prescription compliance. What this represents is actually a change in consumer behavior." This industry insider believes.

This transformation has occurred because the industry did not expect the fierce competition of "weight - loss miracle drugs" to come so quickly.

Currently, there are already five GLP - 1 injectable products approved for weight - loss indications in China. Subsequently, products from Xianweida Biotech and Hengrui Medicine are queuing up for launch. Among the products still in development, dozens have entered Phase II and Phase III clinical trials. This also includes many semaglutide biosimilars. Due to the brand effect of semaglutide, these products are considered easier to penetrate the market by the industry.

However, on the contrary, the in - hospital market can hardly accommodate so many types of GLP - 1 products at the same time. Most hospitals have quantity limits on introducing products of the same type. Moreover, the rules for new products to enter hospitals are strict and the procedures are complex, especially for weight - loss indications, which the official has clearly stated will not be included in the medical insurance. Hospitals will have more considerations.

Therefore, for pharmaceutical companies, stocking products on e - commerce platforms is not only more cost - effective than "breaking into" hospitals one by one. To some extent, it can also transfer the decision - making power of purchase from doctors to patients, facilitating transactions more quickly and driving sales growth.

This year, Novo Nordisk has reached cooperation agreements with multiple online platforms such as Tencent Health, JD Health, Ping An Health, and Alibaba Health. At the end of August, Eli Lilly and JD announced a strategic cooperation covering diseases such as obesity, diabetes, and alopecia areata. Domestically, Huadong Medicine has also stated that it is cooperating with e - commerce platforms, "enhancing user experience through special - zone science popularization, patient education, and pharmacist services".

Meanwhile, the "play - style" of the Internet has also entered the pharmaceutical industry on a large scale to attract users.

At the end of March, Meituan Pharmacy cooperated with Aikang Group to launch a "No - Weight - Loss, No - Pay" campaign for nine months. During this period, users who purchase specified products such as semaglutide and tirzepatide for weight - loss and do not achieve results can receive a compensation of up to 600 yuan. The maximum compensation for this project has now been increased to 1000 yuan.

JD and Alibaba quickly followed suit. At the beginning of April, JD Pharmacy's instant delivery service launched a "Happy Weight - Loss" campaign. Those who lose 5 catties in two weeks can get 500 yuan, and an additional 100 yuan for each additional catty, with a maximum bonus of 1000 yuan. Alibaba Health, in cooperation with an insurance institution, provided a "guarantee". If users do not reach their weight - loss goals, they can get a maximum compensation of 5000 yuan.

Although these cooperation projects are carried out in the form of national weight - loss and promoting a healthy lifestyle and are relatively restrained in form, they still have some "sales - promotion" purposes.

For example, at the end of August, Douyin launched a "Confidently Beautiful" creative monetization campaign with Innovent Biologics. Users who punch in for 15 days have a chance to get a 600 - yuan reward, and one of the tasks is to "browse the event page of the specified brand". Clicking on it will directly redirect to the sales page of mazdutide on JD Pharmacy.

Schematic diagram of some weight - loss activities

After nearly half a year of continuous weight - loss marketing campaigns, although it's difficult to quantify exactly how many people have lost weight as a result, it's a fact that weight - loss drugs have brought substantial returns to e - commerce platforms.

In August, the sales volume of GLP - 1 drugs on the Meituan Pharmacy platform exceeded 200,000 orders, and the month - on - month growth rate remained at a relatively high level of 25%. According to Yicai, the sales growth rate of GLP - 1 drugs on JD Health is over 30%, and "the vast majority comes from Novo Nordisk". In addition, after mazdutide was launched, its search volume from July to August exceeded one million, and "it has served over 30,000 users".

Although Alibaba Health has not disclosed its sales performance like the other two platforms, relevant data shows that 300 million users search for weight - loss - related information on Taobao every year.

Who Has More Bargaining Chips: Traffic, Supply Chain, or Users?

After "embracing e - commerce" has become a definite strategy, GLP - 1 concept companies are also very willing to invest. Perhaps the impact of numbers is the most intuitive in this regard.

Take Innovent Biologics as an example. At the end of 2023, the company conducted a placement worth 2.1 billion yuan (using about 1.6 billion yuan) and planned to allocate 30% of it to the development, marketing, and commercialization of mazdutide. From the time when the product's market - launch application was accepted in February last year to its approval at the end of June this year, during this more than one - year "pre - launch period" without official sales, 92.7 million yuan had already been spent.

Less than a week after mazdutide received the approval document in July, it was launched on the JD Health platform. At a recent mid - year report communication meeting, Innovent Biologics also said that the market feedback the company has received in the two months since the product was launched has been "very good".

But companies won't invest blindly. When major e - commerce platforms are all striving to capture the largest share of the GLP - 1 weight - loss market, the platform that can offer more bargaining chips to pharmaceutical companies will undoubtedly gain deeper cooperation opportunities.

Xiao Jing, the vice - president of the e - commerce and retail business department of Yinnuo Pharmaceutical, observed that currently, the characteristics of e - commerce platforms are quite distinct. For example, JD excels in supply - chain delivery capabilities and experience in operating prescription drugs; users on Meituan have more frequent e - commerce consumption habits and can enjoy O2O convenience; and Alibaba Health has the largest pool of female users and traffic for consumer products.

"For companies, what they care more about is users' choices, such as 'where they are active and where they make purchases', and whether the platform can manage repurchases well." Xiao Jing said.

Therefore, it's very important to combine product features with the platform's own advantages. For example, all currently launched GLP - 1 weight - loss drugs are injectable products, which have relatively high requirements for cold - chain transportation. This makes cold - chain logistics capabilities a key factor in the competition among e - commerce channels.

Take JD Health as an example. Relying on its pharmaceutical cold - chain warehouses covering more than 300 cities across the country, the next - day delivery rate of JD Health's drug orders has reached 99%. Meituan Pharmacy, for cold - chain drugs such as GLP - 1 weight - loss drugs, cooperates with SF Express to use air transportation for "quality - guaranteed delivery".

In addition to hard power, soft power is also crucial. The platform that can integrate more upstream and downstream resources, provide more diverse services, and even "companion products" (such as protein powder, vitamins, and probiotics used in conjunction with GLP - 1) will be able to better capture users' hearts.

For example, in Meituan Pharmacy's "No - Weight - Loss, No - Pay" campaign, in addition to weight - loss drugs, the event zone also includes various weight - management projects such as traditional Chinese medicine physiotherapy and fat - reduction and body - shaping, aiming to provide more comprehensive weight - loss services to attract public attention.

From past cases, there are many stories of prescription drugs becoming popular and selling well due to their consumer - product nature. "Viagra" is a classic example. However, GLP - 1 is probably the first to reach a level of industry frenzy and public pursuit. There is no precedent to refer to for its future market trend, and it's difficult to predict at this moment.

But hopefully, as the industry expects, it will be a multi - billion - yuan market under healthy competition rather than the start of chaos.