Pfizer on Friday said it would stop developing the twice-daily version of its experimental weight loss pill after obese patients taking the drug lost weight but had trouble tolerating the drug in a mid-stage clinical study.
The drugmaker observed high rates of adverse side effects, which were mostly mild and gastrointestinal, among patients. A significant share of patients also stopped taking the drug in the trial.
“At this time, twice-daily danuglipron formulation will not advance into Phase 3 studies,” the company said.
But Pfizer said it still plans to release phase two trial data on a once-a-day version of the drug in the first half of 2024, which will “inform a path forward.” The pharmaceutical giant will wait to see that data before deciding whether to start a phase three study on the once-daily pill, which Wall Street views as the more competitive form of the treatment.
Still, the data on the twice-daily drug is a blow to Pfizer’s hopes to win a $10 billion slice of the booming weight loss drug market, which CEO Albert Bourla has said could grow to $90 billion. The company is betting on a successful weight loss pill to help it rebound from plummeting demand for its Covid products and a roughly 40% share price drop this year.
But investors have been pessimistic about Pfizer’s potential in the weight loss drug space since the company scrapped a different once-daily pill in June and proceeded with the less attractive danuglipron. Now, Friday’s data puts Pfizer even further behind the dominant players in the weight loss drug market, Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk, which are racing to develop more convenient pill versions of their blockbuster weight loss and diabetes injections.
Pfizer’s phase two trial on its twice-daily pill followed around 600 obese adults who did not have Type 2 diabetes. The trial examined the drug’s effect on weight loss after 26 or 32 weeks, at different dosage amounts ranging from 40 milligrams to 200 milligrams.
Like Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy…
Read the full article here
Leave a Reply