Novo Nordisk to amass Inversago Pharma, Canadian obesity drug maker

Novo Nordisk on Thursday said it should acquire Inversago Pharma, a privately held obesity drug maker, for as much as $1.08 billion to broaden the Danish company’s blockbuster weight reduction portfolio. 

The deal is Novo Nordisk’s latest try to capitalize on the load loss industry gold rush, which began last 12 months after its Wegovy and Ozempic injections skyrocketed in popularity. 

The deal’s price will depend on whether Inversago reaches certain development and sales goals, Novo Nordisk said in a release. The businesses expect to shut the acquisition before the top of the 12 months. 

Canada-based Inversago develops experimental therapies to treat individuals with obesity, diabetes and other conditions affecting the body’s metabolism. 

Inversago’s drugs use a special approach than most treatments within the obesity and diabetes space. They block a protein within the brain called cannabinoid receptor type 1, which plays a job in metabolism and regulating an individual’s appetite. 

Meanwhile, Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy and Ozempic work by mimicking a hormone produced within the gut to suppress an individual’s appetite. 

“The acquisition of Inversago Pharma will further strengthen our clinical development pipeline in obesity and related disorders,” said Martin Holst Lange, Novo Nordisk’s executive vice chairman for development, in a release.

“This promising class of medication pioneered by the Inversago team could lead on to life-changing recent treatment options for those living with a serious chronic disease and, specifically, may offer alternative or complementary solutions for people living with obesity,” he added.

Inversago’s leading therapy is an oral drug that helped patients lose a mean of seven.7 kilos after 28 days in a small phase-one clinical trial. Those that took a placebo in that trial gained 1 pound on average in the course of the same time period. 

Novo Nordisk intends to further investigate the potential of the oral drug for obesity and obesity-related complications.

Individually on Thursday, Novo Nordisk reported second-quarter results and raised its full-year outlook as a consequence of soaring demand for its obesity and diabetes products. 

However the drugmaker said it’s extending supply restrictions within the U.S. for some doses of Wegovy. 

Novo Nordisk CEO Lars Fruergaard Jorgensen on Thursday, in an interview with Reuters, signaled that significant demand for Wegovy will outstrip availabilities within the foreseeable future. He said the corporate will likely have limits of availability of Wegovy into 2024.