Novo Nordisk’s obesity drug CagriSema helps obese patients cut weight by 22.7%: Report | Company Business News
The experimental next-generation obesity drug CagriSema helped overweight patients cut their weight by 22.7 percent in a late-stage trial, Reuters quoted Novo Nordisk as saying on Friday, adding the results were 25 percent they had expected.
The new findings from the drug candidate deals a blow to the Danish drugmaker’s ambitions for a successor to its popular Wegovy more powerful than Eli Lilly’s Zepbound.
According to the details shared by Reuters, analysts and investors were eagerly awaiting the data, which has a strong pipeline of drugs to follow Wegovy in the fiercely competitive anti-obesity market.
Following the Danish drugmaker’s results announcement, Novo’s share price fell by 19.5 per cent on Friday to its lowest since August 2023.
About the results:
The drugmaker stated that the data from the Phase III trial was based on about 3,400 people with a body mass index (BMI) of or above 30 or people with a BMI of 27. Also, the data was calculated based on people with at least one weight-related comorbidity like hypertension or cardiovascular disease after 68 weeks.
Adding on, Novo mentioned that CagriSema had side effects similar to those of its GLP-1 drugs, which are already available on the market. About 44 percent taking Wegovy experienced nausea, and 30 percent experienced vomiting, said Novo, citing prescribing information.
About CagriSema:
CagriSema is a weekly injection by Novo Nordisk that combines semaglutide—the active ingredient in Wegovy that mimics the gut hormone GLP-1—with a separate molecule called cagrilintide, which mimics the pancreatic hormone amylin.
The two hormones combined suppress hunger and help control patients’ blood glucose, added the report.
Novo’s trial is the most advanced for an amylin drug candidate currently being tested in the market.
Earlier, Lilly’s own obesity injection – sold as Zepbound in the United States and Mounjaro in other markets where it has launched – led to an average weight loss of nearly 23% in clinical trials.
