Altimmune Inc.’s peptide-based glucagon-like peptide-1/glucagon dual receptor agonist pemvidutide hiccupped in a phase I study earlier this year but has bounced back with top-line results from its phase II study in obesity. Results showed robust reductions in body mass index and serum lipids, along with improvements in blood pressure with no imbalances in cardiac events, arrhythmias or clinically meaningful increases in heart rate. The data showed liver-fat loss similar to Novo Nordisk A/S’ GLP-1 drug Wegovy (semaglutide).
More details of Novo Nordisk A/S’ phase III Select trial indicate that risk reductions in major adverse cardiovascular events were achieved regardless of age, gender, ethnicity and starting body mass index when obese and overweight patients were treated with Wegovy (semaglutide, 2.4 mg). Statistical significance was seen, however, only with the reduction of heart attacks and not other measures that were part of the trial.
Astrazeneca plc will pay up to $2 billion for Eccogene Co. Ltd.’s oral weight loss candidate, ECC-5004, as big and small pharma players alike work to gain ground in the burgeoning obesity market where Eli Lilly and Co. scored the latest U.S. FDA approval of Zepbound (tirzepatide).
Orsobio Inc., already in the clinic with three candidates, has completed its $60 million series A financing. The company, CEO Mani Subramanian told BioWorld, has taken its time to find the right programs, put them together and only raised capital when it saw the programs had legs. Even the series A is a measured step, as Subramanian called the financing “modest.”
A year-and-a-half after Eli Lilly and Co.’s Mounjaro (tirzepatide) gained U.S. FDA approval for adults with type 2 diabetes, the GLP-1 and GIP dual agonist was cleared for chronic weight management in adults who are obese or overweight and who also have one related condition.
Fake versions of Novo Nordisk A/S’ 1-mg Ozempic prefilled pens are sounding alarms in Europe amid an ongoing shortage of the company’s semaglutide products resulting from demand in the weight-management space.
Researchers from Case Western Reserve University have filed for patent protection for a system and method for treating obesity or other gastric and/or metabolic disorders via closed-loop vagus nerve stimulation.
“Digital therapeutics (DTx) for obesity may seem light years away,” Rhee Sang-youl, of Kyung Hee University Medical Center (KHMC), said to the Korea Society of Cardiology (KSC) 2023 audience members on October 13, “but the reality is that it’s right in front of us.”
Novo Nordisk A/S’ semaglutide is making headlines again this week, with a phase IIIb testing the ubiquitous GLP-1 agonist on kidney outcomes halted early for efficacy. The independent data monitoring committee for the trial, dubbed Flow, concluded results from an interim analysis met prespecified efficacy criteria. Final data will read out in the first half of 2024.
Glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor agonists have brought significant weight loss to patients, catching the attention of investors, but drug developers are continually seeking new therapies with different mechanisms to enhance the effects and improve the tolerability.
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