Biopharma deal values reached $14.88 billion in August, declining from July’s $20.86 billion but improving over June’s $12.79 billion. With a total of $135.17 billion raised through the first eight months, 2024 continues to hold the record for the highest year-to-date deal value in BioWorld's records.
As Novo Nordisk A/S and Eli Lilly and Co. go head-to-head in the U.S. and Chinese glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1RA) market for diabetes and obesity, Novo Nordisk is in innovator gear once more with leading studies of GLP-1s in Alzheimer’s disease.
The BioWorld Drug Developers Index (BDDI) declined in August, ending the month down 1.11% for the year and diverging from its previous trend of mirroring the Nasdaq Biotechnology Index (NBI) and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA). By the close of August, the BDDI had slipped, while the NBI gained 11.7% year-to-date and the DJIA rose 7.05%.
Moderna Inc.’s shares (NASDAQ:MRNA) sank 19% to a $64.11 low in early trading Sept. 12 as investors learned during the annual R&D Day event of a $1.1 billion reduction to R&D and the U.S. FDA’s reluctance to support an accelerated approval filing for its individualized neoantigen therapy for melanoma.
Chinese pharmaceutical and biotech companies are leading development of glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists as Novo Nordisk A/S and Eli Lilly and Co. edge closer to launching blockbuster therapies in China. At the heart of the GLP-1 boom is a nationwide obesity problem driven by a confluence of factors, including the rise of a modern, sedentary lifestyle, according to Clarivate. Despite the rising prevalence of obesity and type 2 diabetes, the gap in obesity therapeutics is “substantial and leaves a solid market opportunity for weight loss drugs,” Karan Verma, principal analyst of healthcare research & data analytics at Clarivate, said.
Two leading glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists for obesity and type 2 diabetes – Novo Nordisk A/S’s semaglutide (Wegovy/Ozempic) and Eli Lilly and Co.’s tirzepatide (Mounjaro/Zepbound) – are advancing in China after taking the U.S. market by storm. China represents the world’s largest population of diabetes and obesity patients. Its GLP-1 market, valued at about $1.7 billion in 2023 according to Clarivate, is expected to grow as the number of obesity patients is projected to exceed 500 million by 2033.
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