Novo Nordisk A/S May Add Hundreds To R&D Staff For Obesity Medicines

Novo Nordisk A/S May Add Hundreds To R&D Staff For Obesity Medicines

September 17, 2014

By Mark Terry, BioSpace.com Breaking News Staff

Denmark-based Novo Nordisk has indicated it would potentially be hiring hundreds of people for R&D to work on a variety of obesity therapies.

This follows closely on the U.S. FDA’s Metabolic Drugs Advisory Committee (EMDC) voting 14 to 1 in favor of the company’s Saxenda (liraglutide), a treatment for obesity.

Analysts estimate that Saxenda might generate $429 million in 2017 alone.

The FDA asked the members of the panel to evaluate whether Novo Nordisk had provided “adequate evidence to establish the efficacy and safety profile of Saxenda for chronic weight management.”

They were also asked to provide opinions on the drug’s safety database based on the clinical trial and post-marketing evidence developed with the drug’s use for diabetes.

The company is best known for sales of insulin and diabetes-related products.

Attending the European Association for the Study of Diabetes conference in Vienna, Novo Nordisk’s Chief Science Officer Mads Krogsgaard Thomsen said, “We are taking a whole portfolio approach, pretty much like Novo Nordisk has done in diabetes, with different solutions for different people.”

He further said that they will look to collaborate with biotech companies and universities for potential ideas for therapies they can then develop in-house.

Thomsen further suggested that because the company has a facility in Seattle, Washington, they may consider grouping their obesity research there.

Phase 3 clinical trials for Saxenda, dubbed SCALE, involved more than 5,000 individuals with obesity or who were overweight. Obesity was defined as BMI = 30 kg/m2and overweight was defined as BMI = 27 kg/m2.

There are several companies with competing products, including Arena Pharmaceuticals Inc. (ARNA) and Eisai Co. (4523) with Belviq®, and Vivus Inc. (VVUS) with Qsymia®. Orexigen Therapeutics Inc. (OREX) and Takeda Pharmaceutical Co., recently announced the FDA had approved the drug Contrave for treatment for obesity, although that approval comes with a black box warning for possible higher risks of heart attacks.

The market for obesity drugs is huge. In the U.S., approximately 35 percent of the adult population, or nearly 100 million people, are defined as obese. Analysts cite the weight loss and management market in North America to hit about $139.5 billion in 2017.

The drug market in the U.S., France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the U.K. and Japan is expected to increase six-fold over the next ten years, from about $420 million in 2010 to $6.2 billion in 2020, according to research by Decision Resources.

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