Novo Nordisk CEO Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen on Friday mentioned the corporate’s experimental weight loss pill, amycretin, might ultimately change into a best-in-class remedy for weight problems.
The Danish drugmaker is racing to capitalize on the runaway success of its blockbuster weight reduction drug Wegovy by growing a new generation of treatments for weight problems, together with extra handy and doubtlessly cheaper tablets.
His remarks got here in the future after Novo Nordisk impressed traders with early-stage trial information on amycretin. Sufferers on the tablet misplaced about 13.1% of their weight after 12 weeks, Jørgensen mentioned on CNBC’s “Money Movers.”
That surpasses the 6% weight reduction seen in those that took Wegovy after the identical time interval. It additionally provides to the rising enthusiasm across the potential of weight reduction tablets.
Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen, CEO of Novo Nordisk, speaks throughout an interview in New York on Aug. 10, 2022.
Christopher Goodney | Bloomberg | Getty Photos
Together with comfort for sufferers, tablets might assist alleviate among the provide constraints plaguing weight reduction injections. Wegovy, together with related medication, has soared in demand and slipped into intermittent shortages over the previous 12 months attributable to its skill to assist sufferers shed vital weight over time.
“We believe in the future there’ll be different segments of anti-obesity treatments, with different patients having different preferences,” Jørgensen advised CNBC. “Some will prefer an injectable and we really believe that once we can take a pill, it’s a very convenient offering.”
However these tablets will not be a part of the market any time quickly. A midstage trial on amycretin will start within the second half of this 12 months, with outcomes anticipated in early 2026, the corporate mentioned Thursday.
In a separate interview with Reuters on Friday, Novo Nordisk’s head of growth Martin Holst Lange mentioned the corporate is snug in having the ability to launch amycretin this decade.
Amycretin suppresses urge for food by focusing on the identical intestine hormone that Wegovy mimics, which is named GLP-1. However amycretin additionally targets a pancreas hormone known as amylin, which impacts starvation.
U.S.-traded shares of Novo Nordisk rose as a lot as 8.3% on Thursday after the corporate launched the info, extending the previous 12 months’s 68% acquire. However the firm’s inventory fell 2% on Friday.
