Weight loss
In December 2024, the FDA affirmed that the shortage of tirzepatide, marketed as Zepbound for weight loss, had ended, formally barring compounders from producing their knockoff versions of the drug.
Eli Lilly’s shares shot up 11% pre-market on Thursday after orforglipron became the first small-molecule GLP-1 drug to ace a late-stage study in type 2 diabetes, eliciting significant reductions in body weight and improvements in glucose control.
Merck has not disclosed which of its peptide therapies it plans to develop oral formulations for.
Viking Therapeutics enjoyed a nice share rally on the news that rival Pfizer is discontinuing obesity candidate danuglipron. But the biotech has a long way to go to recover after six straight months of decline.
Pfizer’s discontinuation of danuglipron brings the company down to a single molecule in its obesity pipeline.
Wegovy and Zepbound are just the latest drug dyads to face-off in the competitive pharma market, continuing a legacy of rivalry that includes blockbuster drugs Keytruda, Humira and Eliquis.
Long considered resistant to economic downturns, the pharmaceutical industry may face a greater challenge this time around as GLP-1s dominate and the population grows older.
Eli Lilly says Indianapolis-based Premier Weight Loss is cracking open auto-injector pens containing its blockbuster drug and repackaging them into separate doses.
Compounded versions could make up as much as 40% of the semaglutide market, said Novo Nordisk CEO Lars Fruergaard Jorgensen on Thursday, but the company hopes to win patients over.
Lexicon’s LX9851 targets ACSL5, a liver enzyme involved in fat metabolism that helps moderate fat accumulation and slow down gastric emptying.
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