Manufacturer Novo Nordisk is working on a diet pill. So far, the drug has been administered by syringe.
(Photo: REUTERS)
Frankfurt In the fight against obesity, the pharmaceutical companies Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly intend to launch not only weight loss injections, but soon also active ingredients in tablet form. Both companies presented late-stage study data for their oral drug candidates at the American Diabetes Association meeting over the weekend. If taken for several weeks, they ensure a weight reduction of 15 percent and more.
Novo Nordisk is currently at the forefront of development and is already researching its drug in the third and final clinical phase. According to Novo Nordisk, applications for approval are to be submitted to the authorities in the USA and Europe before the end of this year.
Because tablets are easier to use than syringes, the companies hope to open up new patient groups. Pfizer boss Albert Bourla expects sales of up to 90 billion dollars in the market for weight loss tablets. The US group is also researching tablets against obesity, but the study is still at an earlier stage than that of the competition.
The weight loss hype began a few months ago with Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic. Actually, it is only approved for people with type 2 diabetes. But since the weight-reducing effect became known, many celebrities have been taking the drug. Ozempic is mostly sold in the US. In the meantime, the demand there was so great that patients with diabetes had difficulties getting the drug. There were also bottlenecks in Germany.
The active ingredient in Ozempic is called semaglutide and mimics a gut hormone. The agent – a so-called GLP1 antagonist – regulates the blood sugar level and, among other things, also ensures a feeling of satiety. Novo Nordisk took advantage of this and developed semaglutide in a different concentration for non-diabetics to use against obesity.
17.4 percent weight loss with the diet pill
This drug, called Wegovy, is already on the market as an injection in the USA and has also been approved in Europe since last year. Due to production bottlenecks, however, it has not yet been launched in Germany. At the end of July, however, it should be as far as the boss of the Danish manufacturer Novo Nordisk, Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen, told the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung” at the weekend. Wegovy like Ozempic has to be injected once a week into the subcutaneous fat around the abdomen. Many patients find this difficult.
We see that obesity is a global epidemic and there is a need for a variety of effective drugs and routes of administration. Sean Wharton, director of the Wharton Medical Clinic
Novo Nordisk has already launched a tablet with the active ingredient semaglutide for diabetics, and now the anti-obesity drug is to follow. At the end of May, Novo Nordisk presented the first data on its weight loss tablet, which led to a weight loss of 17.4 percent over a period of 68 weeks in overweight and obese adults without diabetes.
The US company Eli Lilly, which, like Novo Nordisk, develops drugs for diabetes and obesity, also wants to market a GLP1 antagonist specifically in tablet form. At the weekend at the American Diabetes Association meeting, Lilly presented data from the phase two study with the active substance orfoglipron, which, when taken for 36 weeks, resulted in a weight reduction of up to 14.7 percent in overweight subjects.
“We see that obesity is a global epidemic and there is a need for a variety of effective drugs and routes of administration,” said Sean Wharton, director of the Wharton Medical Clinic, which is involved in the drug’s clinical trials. Various options are being researched, including a daily pill, Wharton said.
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In addition, the German pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim is also working on an active ingredient to fight obesity, but as an injection, not as a tablet. Data from the drug’s phase two study, which is being researched jointly with Danish company Zealand, were also presented at the US diabetes conference. According to this, the subjects lost up to 19 kilos with the injection, but almost a quarter of the study participants stopped taking the drug because of side effects.
More: New hope for losing weight: Diabetes drug Ozempic is causing hype in the USA