Novo Nordisk CEO Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen on Friday said the corporate’s experimental weight reduction pill, amycretin, could eventually change into a best-in-class treatment for obesity.
The Danish drugmaker is racing to capitalize on the runaway success of its blockbuster weight reduction drug Wegovy by developing a recent generation of treatments for obesity, including more convenient and potentially cheaper pills.
His remarks got here at some point after Novo Nordisk impressed investors with early-stage trial data on amycretin. Patients on the pill lost about 13.1% of their weight after 12 weeks, Jørgensen said on CNBC’s “Money Movers.”
That surpasses the 6% weight reduction seen in those that took Wegovy after the identical time period. It also adds to the growing enthusiasm across the potential of weight reduction pills.
Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen, CEO of Novo Nordisk, speaks during an interview in Recent York on Aug. 10, 2022.
Christopher Goodney | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Together with convenience for patients, pills could help alleviate a few of the supply constraints plaguing weight reduction injections. Wegovy, together with similar drugs, has soared in demand and slipped into intermittent shortages over the past yr because of its ability to assist patients shed significant weight over time.
“We imagine in the long run there will be different segments of anti-obesity treatments, with different patients having different preferences,” Jørgensen told CNBC. “Some will prefer an injectable and we actually imagine that when we are able to take a pill, it’s a really convenient offering.”
But those pills won’t join the market any time soon. A midstage trial on amycretin will begin within the second half of this yr, with results expected in early 2026, the corporate said Thursday.
In a separate interview with Reuters on Friday, Novo Nordisk’s head of development Martin Holst Lange said the corporate is comfortable in having the ability to launch amycretin this decade.
Amycretin suppresses appetite by targeting the identical gut hormone that Wegovy mimics, which is often called GLP-1. But amycretin also targets a pancreas hormone called amylin, which affects hunger.
U.S.-traded shares of Novo Nordisk rose as much as 8.3% on Thursday after the corporate released the information, extending the past yr’s 68% gain. But the corporate’s stock fell 2% on Friday.