May 16 (Reuters) - Eli Lilly ( LLY ) said on Thursday

its once-weekly insulin injection, efsitora, showed blood sugar

reduction that was consistent with commonly used daily insulins

across two studies in patients with type 2 diabetes.

Lilly and Novo Nordisk are both developing weekly

injections for long-acting insulins that could reduce the

treatment burden for patients with diabetes.

Novo's weekly injection, insulin icodec, has been

recommended for approval in Europe and is under regulatory

review in the United States. Advisers to the U.S. Food and Drug

Administration are set to meet next week to discuss Novo's

application for approval.

The two drugmakers are also leaders in the market for

obesity medicines, known as GLP-1 agonists, which help control

blood sugar levels and cause the stomach to empty more slowly.

In one of the two studies, Lilly evaluated efsitora in

patients using and not using GLP-1 therapies.

Lilly said efsitora was non-inferior to insulin degludec,

sold as Tresiba by Novo, in reducing blood sugar levels in both

sets of patients.

At the end of 52 weeks, patients on efsitora saw a reduction

of 1.34% in their A1C levels - a marker of blood glucose levels

over three months - compared with a 1.26% reduction for insulin

degludec. The trial included patients who were using insulin for

the first time.

Lilly plans to present detailed data from this study at a

medical conference later this year.

In the second study, conducted for 26 weeks, both efsitora

and insulin glargine reduced A1C levels in patients by 1.07%.

Insulin glargine is sold as Basaglar by Lilly and as Lantus by

French drugmaker Sanofi.

Eli Lilly ( LLY ), Sanofi and Novo Nordisk together make up 90% of

the U.S. market for insulin and have faced political pressure to

make these life-sustaining diabetes treatments more affordable.