Obesity
Muscle Preservation, Tolerability and Alternative Administration Routes Define Obesity’s Drug Future
In the incredibly hot obesity drug space, with more than 700 clinical trials ongoing, Verdiva Bio and MitoRx leaders discuss how next-generation therapies are targeting lean muscle preservation, extended efficacy and better safety profiles to enable lifelong weight management.
Eli Lilly has long been gearing up for the launch of orforglipron, announcing as early as February 2024 that it was ramping up manufacturing investments for the weight-loss pill.
The oral version of Wegovy has made GLP-1 medicines more accessible and acceptable to many patients who had steered clear of injectable versions, healthcare analytics firm Truveta suggests.
A lawsuit and FDA warning ensued after Hims & Hers launched a compounded version of Novo Nordisk’s new obesity pill, more Big Pharma report earnings—including from weight loss rivals Novo and Eli Lilly—and the gene therapy space sees another rejection.
Kailera will launch a global Phase 2 study of ribupatide this year, while Hengrui will push the asset into Phase 3 in China.
AstraZeneca will push the pill, elecoglipron, into a comprehensive late-stage program that will test the drug as a monotherapy, as part of a combination regimen and for several indications.
Novo Nordisk has sued Hims for allegedly violating patents protecting semaglutide, seeking potentially “hundreds of millions” in damages, John Kuckelman, the pharma’s general counsel, said. The wellness platform pulled its version of the drug just days after launching it.
Novo Nordisk has also spoken out strongly against Hims & Hers’ compounded Wegovy pill, with CEO Maziar Mike Doustdar telling investors the knockoff version is a waste of money.
Biopharma’s obsession with the weight loss sector—projected to exceed $130 billion in revenue by 2035—shows no signs of slowing down as analysts gear up for a year that will test the oral market and provide key data on novel mechanisms.
Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly have been battling head-to-head in an exploding obesity market. They should never have been compared apples to apples.
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