Roche's Obesity Drug Trial Stumbles, Rivals Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly See Stock Gains

　　【Pharmaceutical Network Medical Stock Market】Currently, companies represented by multinational pharmaceutical enterprises are laying out plans for weight-loss drugs, with related progress drawing significant attention. On Wednesday, September 11, Eastern Time, Roche Pharmaceuticals announced new clinical trial results of its weight-loss drug under development, CT-996, at the European Association for the Study of Diabetes meeting.
 

The study showed that among the seven patients who were quickly escalated to the highest dose, six experienced nausea and chronic acid reflux, and five had vomiting. In contrast, among the six patients with a gradual dose increase, five reported nausea, one had acid reflux, and two vomited. Roche stated that slowly adjusting the dose could mitigate side effects, allowing patients to better tolerate the drug.
 

The head of Roche's global cardiovascular, renal, and metabolic product development pointed out that the main purpose of conducting Phase I clinical trials is to increase the dosage and test patients' tolerance limits to the drug. The company plans to conduct more studies in larger patient populations to further verify the drug's efficacy.
 

Affected by this news, investors' disappointment was reflected in Roche's stock price, causing the stock to close down 6.02% on Wednesday, while competitor Novo Nordisk ADR closed up 4.2%, and Eli Lilly closed up 2.18%.
 

However, at the meeting, Novo Nordisk also announced early experimental data for a daily oral medication named amycretin. Patients taking the maximum dose lost 13% of their body weight within three months without experiencing a weight loss plateau. The main side effects were nausea and vomiting.
 

Reportedly, just a few hours before Roche announced its research results, its rival Novo Nordisk released trial data for the anti-obesity drug Amycretin (a novel oral GLP-1 receptor and amylin receptor long-acting co-agonist). The data showed that at the highest dose, 75% of patients experienced nausea, but when the dose was reduced, the incidence of nausea significantly dropped to 31%. Despite showing promising efficacy, Deutsche Bank noted that the side effect profile of Novo Nordisk's weight-loss drug Amycretin was "slightly on the higher side."
 

At the same time, according to a new study funded by Novo Nordisk, one of the company's weight-loss drugs is safe and effective for children as young as 6 years old. The trial results showed that children aged 6 to 12 who used Novo Nordisk's weight-loss injection pen (Saxenda) for just over a year experienced a 7.4% decrease in body mass index compared to children who took a placebo. It is reported that Novo Nordisk markets liraglutide as a treatment for diabetes and obesity under the brand names Victoza and Saxenda, respectively. However, the company has now shifted its focus to the next generation of GLP-1 drugs, semaglutide, with strong sales of the weight-loss drug Wegovy and the diabetes drug Ozempic. Novo Nordisk also stated that it will seek approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the European Medicines Agency (EMA) to expand the use of liraglutide to children under the age of 12.
 

It can be seen that Novo Nordisk and Roche are in competition with each other. In addition to oral medications, at the European Association for the Study of Diabetes conference, Roche also presented trial data for an injectable drug similar to Eli Lilly's Zepbound. Although the side effects of the injectable drug exceeded expectations, Roche believes these issues can be resolved.
 

Currently, Roche is still accelerating the development of its weight-loss drugs, aiming to catch up with Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly in the weight-loss market, which is expected to reach $130 billion by 2030. Roche hopes to avoid the supply shortage issues currently faced by competitors by developing drugs with simplified molecular structures.
 

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