Novo hunts for ‘maximum potential’ from obesity drug CagriSema

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favorite tales on this weekly publication.Novo Nordisk is trying to find the “most potential weight reduction” that may be achieved from its potential drug CagriSema, because it tries to persuade dissatisfied buyers that the drugs has a shiny future. The Danish group misplaced some €90bn in market capitalisation in December after preliminary trial outcomes confirmed CagriSema had missed its goal of 25 per cent common weight reduction, with solely 40 per cent of contributors hitting that objective. As an alternative, sufferers achieved a mean weight lack of 22.7 per cent, making buyers fear it couldn’t outcompete the present blockbuster Zepbound made by US rival Eli Lilly.  Martin Lange, govt vice-president at Novo Nordisk, mentioned the corporate had prolonged one trial of CagriSema and began one other longer trial to find what would occur if sufferers took it for greater than 68 weeks. He added that extra detailed outcomes from the earlier CagriSema trial, offered on the American Diabetes Affiliation convention on Sunday, confirmed it provided extra weight reduction than Novo Nordisk’s current product Wegovy with an analogous stage of negative effects. “What folks haven’t seen intimately but is the facet impact profile, as in, there might be numerous consolation in that substantial weight reduction potential . . . with a comparable security and tolerability profile,” he mentioned. The extra detailed knowledge additionally reveals the drug appeared to have an effect on sufferers’ cardiovascular well being. Novo is investigating this impact in a separate trial.The earlier disappointing CagriSema knowledge is one issue that has pushed Novo Nordisk’s share value down greater than 50 per cent up to now yr. Traders additionally fear it’s dropping market share to Lilly. The Danish drugmaker’s board ousted chief govt Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen final month in response. Analysts had criticised Novo Nordisk for setting a objective of 25 per cent weight reduction for the CagriSema trial and for not explaining clearly to the market that trial contributors weren’t on a set dose, with some holding again from taking the best quantity. Lange mentioned the brand new knowledge confirmed that individuals who misplaced extra weight had been usually those that modified their dose. “Their want for weight reduction will not be all the time a really, very quick and dramatic weight reduction. That may be unhelpful.”On Saturday, Novo Nordisk additionally introduced outcomes of two research of amycretin, one other weight problems drug that’s at an earlier stage in trials. One discovered that an injectable model of the drug brought about common weight lack of 24 per cent, larger than the medicine available on the market for the time being. One other discovered that sufferers taking it as a capsule misplaced over 13 per cent of their physique weight on common, however the firm advised this could possibly be larger if the drug was taken for longer.