New Novo Nordisk drug could beat market leaders for weight loss, early results show

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favorite tales on this weekly e-newsletter.Novo Nordisk’s new injectable weight problems drug has the potential to ship greater weight reduction than each of the present market blockbusters, an early stage trial has discovered.In newly-published knowledge, members within the trial of injectable amycretin misplaced a median of 24.3 per cent of their physique weight on the very best dose, in contrast with 1.1 per cent for these on a placebo.The outcomes come because the Danish pharma group races rival Eli Lilly to safe the very best successor to the present finest sellers — Lilly’s Zepbound and Novo’s Wegovy, which respectively trigger common weight lack of 22.5 and 15 per cent. In keeping with one other early-stage trial additionally printed in medical journal The Lancet on Saturday, a pill model of amycretin brought on common weight lack of 13.1 per cent on the very best dose, in contrast with 1.2 per cent for the placebo.Amycretin combines semaglutide, the lively ingredient in Novo’s Wegovy and Ozempic, with amylin, a hormone that promotes a sense of fullness. Novo mentioned it will pursue additional trials of each the oral and the injectable model of the drug. Within the first-phase trial of the amycretin tablet, members’ weight reduction didn’t plateau by the tip of the 12 weeks, so in an extended trial or actual life setting, they may lose extra. Martin Lange, Novo Nordisk govt vice-president of growth, mentioned he believes the oral model of the drug could ship related weight reduction to the injectable model, if sufferers take it for longer. He added that amycretin appears to have “substantial weight reduction potential”, bolstering Novo’s portfolio of anti-obesity medicine. Evan Seigerman, an analyst at BMO Capital Markets, mentioned amycretin seems “promising”. Novo is attempting to persuade traders that its pipeline can compete with Lilly’s, after a disappointing lead to trials of its new CagriSema weight problems medicine despatched its shares tumbling late final 12 months. Extra intensive knowledge on CagriSema might be introduced on Sunday on the American Diabetes Affiliation convention. Shares in Novo have fallen greater than 50 per cent previously 12 months, as traders apprehensive it was shedding its result in Lilly’s Zepbound and Mounjaro, and questioned if its pipeline was pretty much as good as its rival’s. Final month, the corporate introduced it will seek for a alternative for its chief govt Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen.Analysts are optimistic about Lilly’s orforglipron, one other anti-obesity tablet, which brought on common weight lack of 14.7 per cent on the highest dose over 36 weeks, in accordance with a section 2 examine printed in 2023. The outcomes of a newer section 3 trial in diabetic sufferers pushed Lilly’s shares up greater than 15 per cent. Novo Nordisk has already submitted an utility for the approval of an oral model of Wegovy to the US drug regulator. That was primarily based on trial knowledge that confirmed sufferers taking the tablet achieved a median of 16.6 per cent weight reduction over 64 weeks.