Pfizer scraps one weight loss drug in race to develop Ozempic rival
Pfizer scraps one weight loss drug in race to develop Ozempic rival
June 26 (Reuters) – Pfizer Inc (PFE.N) will drop the development of an experimental obesity and diabetes pill and instead advance another therapy, danuglipron, into late-stage trials as it races to rival the success of other weight loss treatments.
The company’s shares fell 2% in volatile premarket trading on Monday as Pfizer said it would stop developing experimental therapy lotiglipron, after patients who took the drug in clinical studies were shown to have elevated levels of liver enzymes.
The announcement is “incrementally negative for perception” around Pfizer’s weight loss drugs, SVB Securities analyst David Risinger said in a note.
The drugmaker has previously said it would choose only one of the two weight loss drugs it was developing to advance into later-stage clinical trials.
The company will now focus on its other therapy danuglipron, which Pfizer said last month helped patients lose weight on par with Novo Nordisk’s (NOVOb.CO) Ozempic in a mid-stage study that tested it in patients with Type 2 diabetes.
U.S. demand for Wegovy and Ozempic, the brand names for Novo Nordisk’s once-weekly injections for treating obesity and diabetes respectively, has soared recently.
The enormous demand for treatments like Wegovy could support as many as 10 competing products with annual sales reaching up to $100 billion within a decade, mostly in the United States, industry executives and analysts have said.
None of the patients in the lotiglipron trials reported liver-related symptoms or side effects, there was no evidence of liver failure and none required treatment, Pfizer said.
Liver enzyme elevations observed in lotiglipron trials have not been seen in patients enrolled in danuglipron trials, the company added.
The drugmaker said it would finalize plans for the late-stage trial of danuglipron by the end of 2023.
