Surging demand and tight supply for a new class of obesity drugs will see some of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies competing for a market projected to reach $50 billion in annual sales by the end of 2010 There is a race to develop drugs.
Eli Lilly, Amgen, Pfizer and Regeneron are fast becoming healthcare priorities and are market leaders in a category analysts say could create some blockbuster obesity treatments this decade. It is one of the companies looking to compete with Novo Nordisk.
Nordisk’s drug Wegovy, which was shown in late-stage trials to result in an average 15% weight loss in patients, has proven to be very popular since its launch in 2021, and the drug It has been in short supply for almost a year.
A similar drug, Munjaro, already marketed by Lilly for diabetes, is also in short supply, at least in part due to off-label use by obese patients.
Until now, many doctors have been reluctant to prescribe drugs to combat obesity. This is because of the prejudice around the condition that was thought to be treatable with diet and exercise and the dangerous side effects caused by previous generations of diet pills.
But the efficacy of new drugs, which in some cases can result in weight loss equivalent to bariatric surgery, is changing attitudes between doctors and the public.
“This new class of drugs essentially modulates people’s hunger and satiety cycles, allowing doctors to treat obesity like a medical condition,” said Evan Seigerman, an analyst at BMO Capital Markets.
“They generate a lot of excitement among investors because the total market they can serve is so huge,” he said.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 4 in 10 American adults are clinically obese, and the condition’s annual medical costs were estimated at about $173 billion in 2019. JP Morgan recently predicted that the global obesity drug market could reach $50 billion by 2030.
Wegovy and Mounjaro are known glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) agonists and were developed to control blood sugar levels in diabetics. These drugs target regions of the brain that regulate appetite and can significantly reduce the weight of patients when given as weekly subcutaneous injections.
Novo’s Wegovy has a leading position in the market, but analysts said Lilly faced supply bottlenecks caused by strong demand and manufacturing issues when Mounjaro was approved for obesity treatment. He said it gave them the opportunity to compete aggressively. In the medium to long term, the market for this new class of her GLP-1 drugs is expected to be highly competitive as competing pharmaceutical companies launch new treatments.
Last month, Amgen released early-stage trial data showing that patients taking high doses of its new drug candidate, Amgen 133, lost nearly 15 percent of their body weight in just 85 days. This result was achieved with a monthly dosing regimen rather than the weekly pace required for Wegovy and Mounjaro.
Amgen 133 functions similarly to Novo and Lilly’s anti-obesity drugs as a GLP-1 agonist that suppresses patient appetite. However, when these drugs are discontinued, antibodies also bind and block a hormone receptor called glucose-dependent insulinotropic peptide (GIP).
Some researchers believe that blocking the secretion of these hormones in the gut after a meal reduces energy intake and increases energy expenditure, thereby leading to weight loss.
Saptarsi Halder, vice president of research overseeing cardiometabolic diseases at Amgen, said:
Amgen anticipates that this mechanism will allow its agents to deliver more sustained weight loss than GLP-1 agonist drugs.
In early December, Amgen released data from a Phase 1 trial that showed patients maintained a double-digit rate of weight loss (11.2% for high-dose patients) for 150 days after the end of three doses.
“The weight loss continues even after the patient is off the medication because they are eating fewer calories and eating less. Joel Neutel, the study’s principal investigator, said.
Analysts say Amgen 133 shows promise, but the company needs to replicate those results in Phase 2 and Phase 3 trials before it can approve the drug. I warn you. Even if successful, the company will be several years behind Novo and Lilly, they said.
After successfully developing a Covid-19 vaccine and treatment, the well-funded Pfizer said on Dec. 12 that it plans to move forward with late-stage trials of an oral GLP-1 drug that could treat diabetes and obesity. At an investor event, the company touted it could reach $10 billion in annual revenue by 2030. Analysts point out that once-daily pills may gain a competitive advantage over weekly or monthly injections.
Regeneron is in an even earlier stage of development. A New York-based biotech company has conducted extensive genetic research to find genetic variations that protect people from obesity.
Aris Baras, senior vice president of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, said the GPR75 gene has the “largest effect size” of any gene variant discovered to date. People with the variant are at least 60% less likely to be obese.
The company sees great promise in genes and is trying three different ways to create a drug for it.
Internally, we are working on developing antibodies that can be administered by injection. Regeneron also partnered with AstraZeneca on its expertise in chemistry to manufacture the pills, and with Boston-based Alnylam Pharmaceuticals to use a new method of silencing genes called RNA interference to produce just 2 We have manufactured an injection that can only be taken once. Year.
Baras said Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly’s GLP-1 drug is a “great development for the field.” However, another drug or combination of drugs may accelerate weight loss without his GLP-1 side effects such as nausea.
In animal studies, which he highlights as an imperfect model, alterations in the GPR75 gene caused people to lose weight at least as much as they did on the GLP-1 drug.
“Current obesity drugs are good, but they’re not perfect. They’re still going to leave a lot of residual weight behind. It would be great if we could have more beneficial weight loss,” says Baras.
Health experts say the development of effective obesity drugs that appear to be free of dangerous side effects is helping to ease concerns about weight loss drugs. But Wegovy’s listed fee is $1,349 per month, so there are hurdles to overcome to get insurance companies to pay for the treatment.
Medicare (the federal government’s US health insurance program for people 65 and older with disabilities) does not cover obesity treatment. Many private insurance companies either do not cover treatment or limit access.
“The real hurdle that needs to be addressed is getting insurance companies to reimburse these drugs,” said Patrick O’Neill, an obesity expert at the Medical University of South Carolina. It’s a cultural change.”
