SHANGHAI, May 21 Reuters Eli Lilly said on Tuesday its diabetes drug tirzepatide has received approval from Chinese regulators, setting up intensifying competition with its Danish rival Novo Nordisk in the key Asian market.

Novo Nordisk39;s popular diabetes drug Ozempic won approval from China in 2021 and the company saw sales of the weekly injection in the greater China region that includes Hong Kong and Taiwan double to 4.8 billion Danish Krone 698 million last year.

Eli Lilly did not say when sales would begin in China or how many doses would be supplied.

Tirzepatide is the active ingredient in the U.S. firm39;s diabetes drug Mounjaro and weightloss drug Zepbound.

Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk are racing to increase production in a weightloss market estimated to reach at least 100 billion globally by decade39;s end. Both companies39; obesity treatments belong to a class of drugs originally developed for diabetes known as GLP1 agonists.

GLP1 drugs have been shown to help patients lose on average as much as 20 of their weight, fuelling unparalleled demand.

Novo Nordisk expected in March that its weightloss drug Wegovy would be approved for sale in China this year and launched with limited supply in the country, which experts estimate has the world39;s highest number of people who are overweight or obese

Skyrocketing demand for Zepbound drove Eli Lilly to raise its annual sales forecast by 2 billion last month.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said last month…