Novo plans to hit $23B in revenue by 2035, has further reduced its workforce by 4,000 and is boosting manufacturing capacity for its Wegovy pill, but investors are unconvinced it will be enough to turn things around; Viking Therapeutics and Roche report positive results for their weight loss assets; Ultragenyx snags FDA approval for its Sanfilippo syndrome gene therapy; IPOs keep on coming.
Following Novo’s rebrand last week, the Danish pharma hosted its Capital Markets Day on Monday, unveiling CEO Maziar Mike Doustdar’s path to hitting $23 billion in sales in 2035. Other updates include an additional workforce reduction of 4,000 staff, bringing the total number of Novo employees to 13,000 fewer than last year, before Doustdar implemented a major restructuring effort, plus plans to boost manufacturing capacity for the Wegovy pill to bring on 10-fold more patients. Still, investors were underwhelmed, sending the company’s stock down 8% by close on Monday.
In the meantime, Novo is looking to expand its weight loss pipeline with three early-stage obesity molecules from Kallyope, including a potentially first-in-class therapeutic peptide and two small-molecule candidates. Novo also struck a partnership with fellow Danish company Orbis Medicines in a multi-drug deal worth up to $1.4 billion. This agreement focuses on the development of oral cardiometabolic drugs.
While Novo and Eli Lilly are the undisputed frontrunners in the weight loss space, Viking Therapeutics has been a closely watched contender. In a Phase 1 exploratory study that read out on Tuesday, Truist Securities said the biotech landed in a “best-case scenario” with the injectable version of its GLP-1/GIP dual agonist VK2735 achieving 17.7% weight loss after 21 weeks—and the efficacy held up under less frequent dosing regimens, indicating the candidate’s potential in a maintenance setting. VK2735 also had a strong safety profile.
Also on Tuesday, Roche announced that an asset picked up in its $2.7 billion acquisition of Carmot Therapeutics in 2023 reduced blood glucose and body weight in patients with type 2 diabetes in a mid-stage trial. This is one of many key catalysts that analysts had been watching for in Roche’s metabolic portfolio, which also includes work with Zealand Pharma.
Meanwhile, Eli Lilly is exploring the many things GLPs can do outside of weight loss. Late last week, the Indianapolis pharma presented early data supporting the use of a GLP-1/GIP dual agonist called brenipatide in alcohol use disorder and depression.
In the rare disease space, the FDA last week approved Ultragenyx’s gene therapy for Sanfilippo syndrome, a rare, fatal genetic brain disease in children that causes severe neurodegeneration. This followed last month’s approval for the company’s first gene therapy, for glycogen storage disease type Ia. But it’s not all good news for Ultragenyx. Earlier this month, the biotech announced that another asset, apazunersen, failed to improve cognition in a Phase 3 trial in Angelman syndrome.
Finally, the IPO window continues to be wide open. Last week, Electra Therapeutics debuted on the market, making it the 26th biotech to go public this year. And at least four more biotechs have announced their intention to follow suit.
