(Bloomberg) -- AstraZeneca Plc said its experimental obesity pill was well tolerated by patients with type-2 diabetes as it presented data from several studies testing its three new weight-loss medicines.
The oral treatment resulted in patients losing an average of 5.8% of their body weight over four weeks in an early study, the UK pharma company reported at the ObesityWeek conference in San Antonio, Texas. There was a “dose dependent increase in nausea and vomiting,” as can be expected with this type of drug, said Sharon Barr, executive vice-president of biopharmaceuticals R&D.
Astra’s shares were down 0.3% in early trading Tuesday after rising as much as 2.9% on Monday following the news. The shares are up 3.9% since the start of the year.
Cancer drug giant AstraZeneca licensed the pill from Chinese biotech Eccogene last year in a bid to gain a foothold in the obesity medicines market that has so far been dominated by Novo Nordisk A/S’s Wegovy and Eli Lilly & Co’s Zepbound, which employ similar GLP-1 technology.
Astra also presented early data on two other obesity drugs on Monday — a drug targeting the hormone amylin and an injectable that targets both GLP-1 and glucagon, a hormone that helps regulate a body’s blood sugar levels. Both medicines had no safety concerns and showed favorable tolerability, Astra said.
Next Wave
Investors and analysts are keenly focused on safety and tolerability for the next generation of obesity drugs. While levels of weight loss are important, drugmakers are also looking to improve on the current side effects associated with Wegovy and Zepbound. Both injectable GLP-1s often cause cause nausea and vomiting. Taking a pill rather than injecting the medicine is also seen as an attractive proposition for patients.
Astra Chief Executive Officer Pascal Soriot has said the company hopes to bring cheaper weight-loss medicines to market that are easier to take and help preserve muscle mass compared with the current offerings. Astra’s weight-loss products could also potentially be combined with its other medicines such as its kidney failure drug Farxiga, Soriot has said.
While the data Monday was limited due to it being from small, early stage studies, Barr said it indicates that the oral GLP-1 could be used as a monotherapy or in combination with other small molecules. No patients left the in-patient trial due to nausea or vomiting, with Astra set to increase the dosage as it continues studying the drug. Astra also highlighted the weight loss as impressive for patients with type-2 diabetes.
All three obesity assets are moving to mid-stage trials and are highly competitive, said Barr.
The data was “largely incremental” but establishes Astra’s foothold in weight management, said Jefferies Peter Welford in a note. The results are “encouraging,” said Bloomberg Intellience’s Michael Shah, but the trial design makes it hard to compare to rival oral GLP-1s.
Viking Therapeutics Inc. also presented data on its experimental pill at the conference, showing that higher doses increased patients’ weight loss beyond earlier formulations. Lilly and Novo also have pills in the works.
--With assistance from Naomi Kresge and Madison Muller.
(Updates with shares, analyst notes, details on side-effects from paragraph three)
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