Metabolic disorders
Alongside the settlement, Novo and Viatris have asked the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to terminate its review of the validity of the Danish drugmaker’s semaglutide patents.
After psychological side effects doomed the first generation of cannabinoid receptor 1–targeting drugs for weight loss, Novo Nordisk, Corbus Pharmaceuticals and Skye Bioscience are betting that a new mechanism of action will improve the safety profile.
Scaling GLP-1 manufacturing capacity remains a key priority for the pharma industry, to help supply catch up with the insatiable demand for weight loss drugs.
BMO Capital Markets analyst Evan Seigerman called it “another positive indication” for Eli Lilly, whose top-selling diabetes and weight loss drugs are gaining market share as manufacturing continues to expand, while noting the drugmaker could start to benefit heading into third quarter earnings.
Venture Capital firms Atlas Venture, Bain Capital Life Sciences and RTW Investments have led a $400 million Series A for Kailera Therapeutics, the latest obesity biotech to hit the scene.
A week after it released positive early-stage data, Metsera has partnered with Amneal Pharmaceuticals in an effort to secure the development and supply of its investigational weight loss therapy MET-097.
The acquisition was featured Monday in Roche’s Pharma Day presentation, which also included projections of more than $3 billion in annual sales from three early-stage obesity and diabetes drugs.
Sen. Bernie Sanders’ aggressive targeting of Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic and Wegovy pricing, and not Eli Lilly’s rival drugs, is not fair.
A retrospective cohort study of more than 33,000 patients with type 2 diabetes showed that Novo Nordisk’s GLP-1 may lower the risk of opioid overdose by 42% to up to 68%.
In a Tuesday Senate hearing on Novo Nordisk’s drug pricing, CEO Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen said he would be willing to sit down with the three largest pharmacy benefit managers who committed that they would expand coverage of Ozempic and Wegovy if Novo lowers its list prices for the blockbuster drugs.
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