Weight loss
Suddenly the hottest thing in biopharma isn’t a new indication, disease target or modality—it’s manufacturing, and all of pharma is going to be vying for capacity and talent.
The Hansoh deal will let Merck compete in the crowded oral GLP-1 space alongside fellow pharma giants Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk and Roche.
The letters come amid the Outsourcing Facilities Association’s ongoing lawsuit against the FDA over the regulator’s decision to end the shortage for tirzepatide.
Now that they’ve received the go-signal from both U.S. and EU anti-trust regulators, Novo Holdings and Catalent expect to wrap up their deal in the coming days.
The discontinuation of STRIDES is a rare stumble for the next-generation obesity field and comes just weeks after Amgen announced underwhelming mid-stage data for MariTide.
In recent months Novo Nordisk has invested several billions of dollars to boost its manufacturing capacity—including its highly contested $16.5 billion merger with CDMO giant Catalent.
The Danish startup, whose lead candidate has parallels to Amgen’s MariTide, launches on the heels of Amgen’s Phase II data release for the drug last week.
SURMOUNT-5’s results reflect those of multiple real-world studies, which have found that tirzepatide treatment results in stronger weight loss than semaglutide.
Amylin analogs present a strong alternative or complement to GLP-1 receptor agonists, potentially eliciting higher-quality weight loss with a cleaner tolerability profile.
With Amgen’s MariTide results at the lower end of investors’ expectation of 20% to 25% weight loss, the much-anticipated readout sent the company’s shares tumbling.
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