Topline
Shares of Swiss pharma giant Roche climbed Wednesday after it reported promising results for an experimental weight loss pill, part of a cohort of hopeful competitors racing to challenge Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly in the burgeoning diabetes and obesity drug market amid growing evidence the drugs can treat many other health conditions like kidney disease and sleep apnea.
Roche said it had promising results from an ongoing trial for its obesity pill and would progress to … [+]
Key Facts
Roche said patients taking its experimental once-daily oral drug, CT-996, for four weeks lost an average of 6.1% of their starting bodyweight compared to patients who received a placebo.
Roche is developing the pill to treat obesity and type 2 diabetes and the company said it plans to advance to mid-stage trials based on the preliminary results.
The CT-996 drug belongs to the same family of GLP-1 hormone mimicking drugs as blockbuster injections like Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro and Zepbound and Roche said the study indicates it is safe, “well tolerated” and has a similar profile of side effects—often mild or moderate gastrointestinal issues like nausea and diarrhea—to oral GLP-1 drugs.
The ongoing trial, which involves around 100 overweight or obese people, was designed to test the safety and tolerability of the drug at different doses, as well as its impact on weight and blood sugar.
The final stage involving people with both type 2 diabetes and obesity will begin towards the end of 2024, Roche said.
Roche shares jumped more than 7% in early trading in Zurich, though gains pared to around 5% later on.
When will an oral weight loss pill be available?
Roche is one of several companies pushing ahead with oral weight loss drugs in the GLP-1 class, but it is likely to be several years before any reach market. The different mode of delivery, while more convenient and cheaper than frequent injections, raises challenges for delivering the drug at a dose that is both effective and without unbearable side effects, a struggle that has already ended several attempts from the likes of Pfizer and Amgen. Novo has an advantage in the space as it is the only company to have secured approval for an oral GLP-1 drug in the U.S. with Rybelsus, a brand name for semaglutide. The oral formulation contains the same drug as Wegovy and Ozempic injections, but is only authorized to treat type 2 diabetes, though the Danish giant is aiming to score approval for obesity as well. Lilly’s orfoglipron, a once-daily pill in the GLP-1 class, is another likely frontrunner, with promising results in mid-stage trials. Pfizer said in July it was moving ahead with its once-a-day pill danuglipron following promising early-stage trials after it abandoned a twice-daily version due to side effects, while San Francisco startup Structure Therapeutics is working on an oral, once-daily GLP-1 pill called GSBR-1290, which surpassed Wall Street’s expectations in June when a mid-stage study showed average weight loss of around 6%.
Big Number
$150 billion. That’s how much the weight loss drug market will be worth by the early 2030s, analysts estimate, up from earlier forecasts of $100 billion.
Further Reading
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