The U.S. pharmaceutical stock of the moment, Eli Lilly (NYSE: LLY), did rather well on Tuesday. Its price closed the day more than 3% higher, on the back of some good news from the lab about its hottest product. What also helped was a glowing new research note from an analyst. The stock's performance looked even better when matched against that of the S&P 500 index, which dipped by 0.2%.

That hot product is obesity treatment Zepbound, Eli Lilly's entry in the white-hot weight loss drugs market. The pharmaceutical giant announced that in a clinical trial, the molecule significantly cut the risk of vulnerable individuals developing type 2 diabetes by 94%. Those individuals were either in a pre-diabetes stage, or were obese or overweight.

Zepbound also did well as a weight loss treatment. Patients dosed with the drug experienced a nearly 23% average decrease in body weight. That compared very favorably with an average of 2% for patients taking a placebo.

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Source Fool.com