Eli Lilly Novo Nordisk release weight reduction drug data

A version of this text first appeared in CNBC’s Healthy Returns newsletter, which brings the most recent health-care news straight to your inbox. Subscribe here to receive future editions.

Competition within the blockbuster weight reduction drug market is ramping up, as drugmakers share fresh data on latest and existing treatments. 

The annual American Diabetes Association conference in Chicago showcased results on obesity injections, pills and other therapies this past weekend. Firms big and small are vying for a slice of the burden loss drug space – and for good reason. 

Some analysts estimate the market might be value greater than $150 billion a yr by the top of the last decade. While I didn’t attend the conference in person this yr, I’ve rounded up some highlights: 

Eli Lilly steals the show – Wall Street breathed a sigh of relief after the corporate’s experimental pill, orforglipron, helped patients reduce weight without serious unintended effects in a late-stage clinical trial. 

The very best dose helped patients with Type 2 diabetes lose 7.6% of their body weight throughout the 40-week study, with no signs of liver damage in those that took the every day treatment. Eli Lilly, which released initial data from the study in April, will unveil results from a separate trial on obese or obese patients without diabetes later this yr. The corporate plans to launch the pill next yr. 

The drugmaker also teased the long run of its portfolio, showcasing treatments that “could further extend Lilly’s dominance within the space,” BMO Capital Markets analyst Evan Seigerman said in a note on Sunday. 

One other experimental Eli Lilly drug, bimagrumab, helped preserve lean muscle mass and drive greater fat loss in patients taking the favored obesity treatment Wegovy from Novo Nordisk in a mid-stage trial. 

The therapy appears to supply a possible solution to an issue that has emerged with existing weight reduction injections. Some doctors are concerned that patients could also be losing an excessive amount of lean muscle mass while taking the shots, particularly older adults who could be more frail. 

Eli Lilly is now running additional studies of the drug together with its own weight reduction injection, Zepbound, Ken Custer, president of Lilly Cardiometabolic Health, told CNBC. 

“We predict we are able to get even higher [results] on top of tirzepatide,” Custer said, referring to the energetic ingredient in Zepbound. 

One other experimental therapy from Eli Lilly also helped patients shed kilos with few unintended effects in a small study, impressing analysts. The drug, called eloralintide, is a component of a category of medicine that mimic the hormone amylin, which slows down digestion and makes people feel fuller for longer. 

Novo Nordisk scrambles to catch up – As Eli Lilly tries to keep up or grow its edge in the burden loss drug market, chief rival Novo Nordisk released full results from late-stage trials on its experimental weekly injection, CagriSema. 

Investors hammered the corporate’s stock in December after preliminary trial results showed CagriSema had missed its goal of 25% average weight reduction, with lower than half of the patients hitting that goal. 

However the full results show that patients lost significant weight, even in the event that they selected to keep on with a lower dose of the treatment. The studies allowed patients to stop at lower doses in the event that they wanted to administer unintended effects or in the event that they were already losing enough weight. 

The complete data on the conference also highlighted a “relatively clean safety profile” for CagriSema, Seigerman said in a separate note on Monday. The drug had similar unintended effects to Wegovy despite delivering more weight reduction. 

CagriSema is a mix of cagrilintide – which mimics amylin –  and semaglutide, the energetic ingredient in Wegovy.

Novo Nordisk also released data from a pair of early trials on one other experimental drug called amycretin. 

The drug helped patients lose as much as 24.3% of their weight after 36 weeks, and in addition showed signs of improving blood sugar levels with unintended effects generally in keeping with other obesity medicines. 

The treatment mimics the identical gut hormone as Wegovy to tamp down appetite and regulate blood sugar, but additionally combines it with amylin. 

The businesses plan to advance each injectable and oral versions of amycretin into late-stage trials for weight management, Novo Nordisk said in a release. 

Amgen outlines next steps for obesity injection – As Amgen tries to make waves within the two-company race, it needs to enhance on results from late-stage trials on its experimental monthly weight reduction injection, Seigerman said in a separate note on Monday. 

Amgen has laid out its plan for the burden loss market, which relies on results it presented on two trials on the conference. 

The corporate said its drug, MariTide, led to significant weight reduction but high rates of unintended effects and discontinuations in a mid-stage trial. Amgen released initial data from that trial back in November. 

Rates of patients who discontinued the drug attributable to unintended effects were high, starting from 10% to 29% inside different groups that took it. Rates of vomiting ranged from 43% to 92%. Groups of patients that regularly increased dosage had lower rates of discontinuations and vomiting than those that didn’t. 

Nonetheless, a smaller phase one study showed that starting patients on lower doses of MariTide and using more gradual dose escalation improved how well they tolerated the drug. The 2 groups with the bottom starting initial doses experienced rates of vomiting of around 23% and 24%, and there have been no discontinuations attributable to unintended effects. 

“Lower starting doses and more steps helps patients,” Jay Bradner, executive vice chairman of research and development at Amgen, told CNBC. 

He added that MariTide’s unintended effects are “short-lived,” and that the info informed the design of Amgen’s 72-week phase three trials on the drug. The corporate is using lower starting doses and three steps of dose escalation over an eight-week period in those studies. By week eight, patients will reach considered one of three different goal doses of MariTide. 

“What we achieve by dose escalation is to permit the brain to tolerate the subsequent step of doses,” Bradner said, noting that it’s a method used with Wegovy and Zepbound. 

But MariTide can have a bonus over those rival treatments since it should use fewer steps and increase doses over a shorter time period, he said. 

In a note on Monday, Jefferies analysts said they consider the phase three data will are available “higher than expectations.” They said the important thing takeaway is that Amgen’s lower and slower dosing plan will significantly improve unintended effects and lower discontinuations, and “might even further boost efficacy” within the trials if patients stay on the drug and experience its full effects. 

At the top of the yr, Amgen can even have data on patients who took MariTide every quarter, in line with Bradner. 

Be at liberty to send any suggestions, suggestions, story ideas and data to Annika at annikakim.constantino@nbcuni.com.

Abridge on Tuesday announced it closed a $300 million funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz, with participation from Khosla Ventures. The round comes just months after the startup raised one other $250 million in fresh capital earlier this yr. 

Founded in 2018, Abridge uses artificial intelligence to draft clinical notes in real time as doctors consensually record their visits with patients. The startup is a component of a market that has exploded as health-care executives seek for solutions to assist reduce staff burnout and daunting administrative workloads. 

Abridge has now raised nearly $818 million, in line with PitchBook, and it partners with greater than 150 health systems across the U.S. The corporate earned a spot on CNBC’s Disruptor 50 list this yr.

“It is a privilege, ultimately, to proceed to create the impact that we would like to proceed to have for clinicians, patients and other members of the healthcare ecosystem,” Julia Chou, Abridge’s chief operating officer, told CNBC in an interview.  

Chou said that Abridge’s fresh capital will help the corporate to push beyond traditional clinical notes. The startup is working to embed relevant revenue cycle information into its product, as an example, which might help make the documentation more compliant and alleviate downstream workflows. 

Abridge isn’t the one AI documentation startup that is occupied with health-care billing. 

One other AI scribing startup, Ambience Healthcare, has also been exploring applications around revenue cycle management. The corporate announced a brand new medical coding model in May that may hearken to patient encounters and discover ICD-10 codes, that are internationally standardized classifications for various diseases and conditions.

Ambience has raised greater than $100 million from investors including Kleiner Perkins, Andreessen Horowitz and the OpenAI Startup Fund, in line with PitchBook. The corporate is in search of fresh capital at a valuation of over $1 billion, in line with a report from The Information. 

AI scribing firms’ push into billing could help them market their products to cash-strapped health systems as true revenue drivers, and not only time-saving tools.

Abridge says it’s just getting began. 

“AI is coming to the doctor’s office,” Chou said. “The aspiration is for it to make your visits feel really human again.”

Be at liberty to send any suggestions, suggestions, story ideas and data to Ashley at ashley.capoot@nbcuni.com.