Weight loss
Roche has gained access to a genetic obesity approach from China’s Rona Therapeutics for up to $100 million in upfront and near-term payments.
Watching the baseball playoffs this week, I was struck by the parallels between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Eli Lilly. Both franchises spend a lot of money and always appear to come out on top.
For the second time in a week, Zealand Pharma’s weight loss pipeline has delivered mixed results, this time in a Phase 2 trial for the Roche-partnered asset petrelintide.
Kailera Therapeutics and Hengrui Pharma’s weekly injection showed benefits beyond weight loss in a mid-stage trial, leading to more regular menstrual cycles in patients with polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome.
Despite meeting the primary endpoints in a Phase 3 trial, shares of Zealand Pharma dropped in premarket trading Thursday as the up to 9.8% weight loss reflected inferior loss to that generated by competitors.
EloraTZP—a combination of an amylin asset and Eli Lilly’s approved obesity drug Zepbound—made a clean sweep of the primary and secondary endpoints in a mid-stage trial of adults with obesity and type 2 diabetes, setting up the launch of a Phase 3 trial before the end of the year.
Eli Lilly’s weight loss pill Foundayo has had a “slower-than-hoped” launch, according to BMO Capital Markets, which contended that the indirect comparison data—despite falling short of definitive proof of superiority—could help the Indiana giant build momentum for its oral drug.
Roche’s anti-myostatin therapy emugrobart is unlikely to elicit meaningful weight loss, according to an interim mid-stage analysis, prompting the pharma to return the asset rights to its subsidiary Chugai Pharmaceutical.
FDA inspectors found evidence that the compounding pharmacy was making versions of Eli Lilly’s tirzepatide and Novo’s semaglutide “regularly or in inordinate amounts” at a site with “insanitary conditions.”
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.
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