Weight loss
Eli Lilly has signed a multi-year contract with animal genomics biotech Fauna Bio to use its artificial intelligence platform to discover drug targets for obesity in a deal worth nearly half a billion dollars.
A GLP-1-based drug from Structure Therapeutics shows clinical promise but not enough for some on Wall Street.
The study found only 19% of nearly 2,000 patients were still taking their prescribed anti-obesity medication at 12 months, compared to 40% that continued with Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy.
This week we discuss ups and downs in the weight loss and ADC markets - including Altimmune, Pfizer setbacks, AbbVie’s ImmunoGen buy and more.
The acquisition will give Roche access to Carmot’s clinical portfolio of three GLP-1 receptor agonists, placing it squarely in the middle of the competition to treat overweight and obesity.
AbbVie’s $10.1 billion ImmunoGen buy and Altimmune’s Phase II win demonstrate that the antibody-drug conjugate market is red hot in cancer and GLP-1 drugs for weight loss are an absolute craze.
While Pfizer’s oral GLP-1 candidate met its primary endpoint in a Phase IIb obesity trial, twice-daily dosing of danuglipron resulted in high rates of adverse events including nausea, vomiting and diarrhea.
Patients treated with Altimmune’s investigational GLP-1/glucagon dual receptor agonist saw up to 15.6% weight loss, and nearly a third of those taking the highest dose lost at least 20% of their body weight.
This week on The Weekly we talk struggles with GLP-1 drug shortages and what that might mean for Novo and Lilly competitors; Regeneron and Sanofi positive results for Dupixent in COPD. Plus, Merck buys Caraway, Beigene’s deal with Ensem, ups and downs for Flagship.
Using electronic health records, healthcare analytics firm Truveta contends that Eli Lilly’s Mounjaro (tirzepatide) could achieve stronger and faster weight loss than Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic (semaglutide).
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