Factbox: Roche enters obesity drugs race with $2.7 bln Carmot deal

Nxera Pharma

04/12/2023 16:56

(Adds details on AstraZeneca deal, and updates trial data for
Novo, Amgen, Viking Therapeutics and Zealand Pharma)
       Dec 4 (Reuters) - The race to grab a slice of the
lucrative market for obesity treatments is heating up among
drugmakers, with Swiss company Roche  ROG.S  becoming one of the
latest entrants following its $2.7 billion deal to buy Carmot
Therapeutics  CRMO.O . 
    The market for obesity treatments is estimated to be worth
$100 billion by the end of the decade and already has Novo
Nordisk  NOVOb.CO  and Eli Lilly  LLY.N  making a big splash
with their highly sought-after treatments.
    The following is a list of companies targeting the next big
blockbuster opportunity: 
     
    NOVO NORDISK
    Novo Nordisk  NOVOb.CO , in November, shared additional data
from a late-stage study showing the heart protective benefits of
Wegovy, its popular obesity drug, are not solely due to weight
loss.
    The study showed the difference in heart risk between
patients who received Wegovy, known chemically as semaglutide,
and those on placebo began to appear almost immediately after
starting treatment.
    Novo has submitted applications to the U.S. and European
Union health regulators for expanded use of Wegovy to reduce the
risk of cardiovascular events. 
    The company's weekly injection Wegovy, known as Ozempic when
used for diabetes, has been launched in six countries so far
including the United States. 
    
    ELI LILLY
    Eli Lilly's weight-loss therapy, Zepbound, got the green
light from the U.S. and UK regulators recently, paving the way
for a powerful new rival to Novo's Wegovy.   
    Lilly's drug, chemically known as tirzepatide, has been
available as Mounjaro for type 2 diabetes since 2022.
    Lilly said a mid-stage trial of its next-generation obesity
drug candidate, a once-weekly injection of retatrutide, showed
it led to a weight loss of up to 24.2% after 48 weeks.
    
    PFIZER
    Pfizer said on Friday it was stopping further trials of a
twice-daily version of its oral weight-loss drug, danuglipron.
    The decision comes after most patients in a mid-stage trial
dropped out with high rates of side effects such as nausea and
vomiting.   
    The company said it will instead focus on a once-daily,
modified release version of danuglipron. Data on how this
version interacts with the human body is expected next year.
    Pfizer had earlier scrapped the development of its
once-a-day pill in June due to concerns over liver safety. 
    
    ROCHE AND CARMOT THERAPEUTICS
    Roche acquired CT-388 as part of its $2.7 billion buyout of
Carmot Therapeutics. Carmot's once-a-week injection belongs to
the same class as Eli Lilly's  LLY.N  Mounjaro, or Zepbound.
    The newly acquired drug candidate has completed early-stage
trials and is ready to be tested on humans in the second of
three trial stages, Roche said.
    
    ASTRAZENECA
    AstraZeneca  AZN.L  licensed an experimental weight-loss
pill for up to $2 billion from China's Eccogene that it believes
could cause fewer side effects than current injectable
treatments.
    Eccogene's drug candidate, ECC5004, is only in the first of
three stages of clinical trials.
     
    AMGEN    
    Amgen  AMGN.O  said in October it expects to report findings
from an early-stage trial of experimental obesity pill, AMG786,
in the first half of next year, and results from a mid-stage
trial of a different, injected obesity candidate AMG133, by late
next year. 
    AMG133 has shown a mean weight loss of 14.5% after 12 weeks
of treatment at the highest monthly dose in a small study.
      
    ALTIMMUNE
    Altimmune  ALT.O  said its drug candidate, pemvidutide,
helped reduce weight by 15.6% on average and showed continued
weight loss at the end of treatment in a mid-stage trial.
    However, patients also experienced nausea and vomiting of
mild and moderate severity. 
    
    VIKING THERAPEUTICS
    Viking Therapeutics'  VKTX.O  drug, VK2735, showed up to 6%
reduction in mean weight in an early-stage study.
    The company said in October it plans to report data from a
mid-stage study testing higher doses of the drug over a longer
treatment window in the first half of 2024.
    
    ZEALAND PHARMA AND BOEHRINGER INGELHEIM
    Germany's Boehringer Ingelheim in August said it would
conduct three late-stage studies testing experimental obesity
treatment, survodutide, which it co-invented with Danish biotech
Zealand Pharma  ZELA.CO . 
    The drug candidate has shown to reduce body weight by close
to 19% in a mid-stage trial in participants who had reached the
intended dosage level.
    
    OPKO HEALTH
    Opko Health  OPK.O  has completed a mid-stage trial of its
obesity drug candidate which it expects will have fewer side
effects compared to existing treatments.

 (Reporting by Mariam Sunny, Pratik Jain, Sriparna Roy and
Bhanvi Satija in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila, Anil
D'Silva and Shinjini Ganguli)
 ((Mariam.ESunny@thomsonreuters.com;))