But this one, for Lilly’s first diabetes and weight-loss pill based on the GLP-1 hormone, was particularly fraught. Days before, rival pharma giant Pfizer had announced it was abandoning its oral weight-loss drug after worrying side effects involving liver problems were reported in one participant in the trial.

In the long term, bariatric surgery is more cost-effective than new anti-obesity medications, research finds, triggering a call to suggest patients consider surgery — or both.