September 26, 2014
By Mark Terry, BioSpace.com Breaking News Staff
Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk announced today that it will create an obesity research unit in Seattle that will initially employ 10 people, eventually expanding to about 60 employees.
The Novo Nordisk Obesity Research Unit will be co-located with the Denmark-based company’s Type 1 Diabetes Research Unit at their research center and is expected to be fully operational by the end of 2016.
This follows recent news that the U.S. FDA had voted 14 to 1 in favor of Novo Nordisk’s obesity treatment Saxenda (liraglutide). In Phase 3 clinical trials, known as SCALE, Saxenda was tested on 5,000 individuals with obesity or who were overweight.
Patients treated with Sandexa showed an average of 8 percent weight loss at 56 weeks compared to 2.6 percent for the placebo group. In addition, individuals treated with the drug experienced statistically significant improvement in blood pressure, cardiovascular risk biomarkers, lipids and patient-reported quality of life.
The company, whose primary business is treatments and therapeutics for diabetes, has indicated it will increase its focus on obesity treatments. “Our ambition,” said Mads Krogsgaard Thomsen, executive vice president and chief science officer, in a statement, “is to drive scientific progress in the obesity disease area and through this identify and develop new treatment options for people with obesity.”
In addition, Kevin Grose, formerly a senior scientist at the Oregon Health and Science University and Novo Nordisk’s founding division chief of its Division of Diabetes, Obesity & Metabolism, will take over as director of the new obesity research group. “I’m looking forward to leading the Novo Nordisk Obesity Research Unit in Seattle and gather a team of preeminent researchers within the obesity and endocrinology field,” said Grove in a statement. “We have a real opportunity to make a meaningful difference in the management of this disease that impacts so many people globally.”
Thomsen has previously indicated the company will take a whole portfolio approach to obesity studies, similar to what Novo Nordisk has done with diabetes. The company plans to collaborate with biotech companies and universities for potential research leads and therapies that can then be developed in-house.
The weight loss and management market in North America is expected to be about $139.5 billion by 2017. The drug market in this area, according to research by Decision Resources, is expected to rise from about $420 million in 2010 in the U.S., France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the U.K.
