May 21 (Reuters) - Two separate asset-management firms

announced the debut of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) on Tuesday,

both which are designed to give investors exposure to stocks

like Eli Lilly ( LLY ) & Co and Novo Nordisk which

are pioneers in developing new anti-obesity drugs.

Amplify ETFs said its Amplify Weight Loss Drug & Treatment

ETF will track the VettaFi Weight Loss Drug & Treatment

Index, while the Roundhill GLP-1 & Weight Loss ETF will

be actively managed by the team at Roundhill Investments.

The two products take slightly different approaches to

building a portfolio around the new category of medications to

treat obesity, known as glucagon-like peptide-1 or GLP-1 drugs.

Roundhill plans to focus squarely on pharmaceutical companies

developing new drug therapies, while Amplify will include a 30%

weighting to companies involved in related businesses, such as

manufacturing, analysis or distribution of these medications.

The number of ETFs targeting this booming segment of the

pharmaceutical market appears to be exploding. In early 2020,

Janus Henderson closed its own obesity-focused ETF, leaving

investors with only broader pharmaceutical or healthcare fund

options. But last month, Tema, another niche asset manager,

re-branded and re-launched a five-month-old ETF investing in

stocks targeting cardiovascular and metabolic health. The more

narrowly focused Tema Obesity and Cardiometabolic ETF

has added more than $63 million since then.

It remains to be seen how long investors remain enthusiastic

about ETFs tied to this particular trend, however. In the first

four months of this year, ETFs designed to appeal to investors

keeping tabs on trends like cybersecurity, working from home,

pet care or cannabis have recorded outflows of $2.4 billion,

compared with outflows of $4.9 billion in 2023.