Novo Nordisk's next-gen obesity drug CagriSema achieves lower weight loss than expected (updated)

BACHEM HOLDING AG

20/12/2024 10:54

(Adds detail on trial, drug from paragraph 4)
       LONDON/COPENHAGEN, Dec 20(Reuters) - Novo Nordisk
 NOVOb.CO  said on Friday its experimental next-generation
obesity drug CagriSema helped overweight patients cut their
weight by 22.7% in a late-stage trial, below the 25% it had
expected, sending its shares down sharply.
    The lower-than-expected weight loss from the drug candidate
deals a blow to the Danish drugmaker's ambitions for a successor
to its popular Wegovy more powerful than Eli Lilly's Zepbound.
    Investors and analysts had eagerly awaited this data as a
test of Novo's case that it has a strong pipeline of drugs to
follow Wegovy in the fiercely competitive anti-obesity market.
    Novo's share price fell by 19.5% after the announcement of
the results on Friday to their lowest since August 2023.
    The data from the Phase III trial was based on about 3,400
people with a body mass index (BMI) of or above 30 or people
with a BMI of 27 and at least one weight-related comorbidity
like hypertension or cardiovascular disease after 68 weeks.
        Novo said the drug had similar side effects compared to
its GLP-1 drugs already on the market. In trials, some 44% of
patients taking Wegovy experienced nausea and 30% experienced
vomiting, according to prescribing information.
  
        CagriSema is a weekly injection which combines
semaglutide, which is the active ingredient in Wegovy and mimics
the gut hormone GLP-1, and a separate molecule called
cagrilintide that mimics the pancreatic hormone amylin, into a
weekly injection.
  
        The two hormones combined suppress hunger and help
control patients' blood glucose.
  
        Novo's trial is the most advanced for an amylin drug
candidate currently being tested in the market.
  
        Novo's shares have been under pressure this year,
significantly underperforming those of chief rival Eli Lilly
 LLY.N , mainly due to concerns Novo may be losing its first
mover advantage in the obesity drug race to Lilly.
  
        Lilly's own obesity injection - sold as Zepbound in the
United States and Mounjaro in other markets where it has
launched - led to an average weight loss of nearly 23% in
clinical trials.
  

 (Reporting by Maggie Fick in London and Stine Jacobsen and
Louise Rasmussen in Copenhagen, Ludwig Burger in Frankfurt;
Editing by Josephine Mason and Catherine Evans)