Daily Newsletter

17 May 2024

Daily Newsletter

Roche targets obesity market with early positive trial data

Roche’s GLP-1/GIP receptor agonist, which was gained in the Carmot acquisition, showed an 18.8% weight loss in a Phase Ib trial.

Phalguni Deswal May 16 2024

Roche is looking to share in the windfall from the sales in obesity therapies as it announces positive results from the Phase Ib trial of its investigational obesity and type 2 diabetes (T2D) therapy.

CT-388 is a once-weekly subcutaneous dual glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) and gastric inhibitory polypeptide (GIP) receptor agonist. It selectively targets two incretin receptors that control food intake, energy absorption and assimilation. The therapy has a similar mechanism of action as Eli Lilly’s Mounjaro (tirzepatide), which generated $1.81bn in sales in Q1 this year, according to Lilly’s financials.

Following today’s news, the Swiss company’s share was up by over 3.5% in trading today on the Swiss stock market. Roche’s market cap is SFr190.6bn ($210.8bn).

The placebo-controlled Phase Ib trial (NCT04838405) enrolled approximately 96 overweight or obese participants with or without T2D. The participants in the CT-388 group achieved a mean placebo-adjusted weight loss of 18.8% at 24 weeks.

All the participants in the treatment group observed a weight loss of over 5%, with 45% of the participants losing more than 20% of their baseline weight. The treatment group participants who were pre-diabetic at baseline achieved a normoglycemic status at 24 weeks.

Commonly observed side effects included mild to moderate gastrointestinal-related adverse events, which are common with other incretin therapies. Roche plans to disclose data from the cohort of patients with obesity and T2D in H2 this year.

The GLP-1 obesity therapies have been dubbed “wonder drugs” and have generated billions in sales. GlobalData estimates that GLP-1 receptor agonist sales for the T2D and obesity markets will reach more than $125bn in 2033.

GlobalData is the parent company of Pharmaceutical Technology.

Multiple companies have invested in developing and boosting their obesity pipelines. In November 2023, AstraZeneca signed a licensing agreement worth up to $2bn with Eccogene to develop and commercialise ECC5004, a small molecule GLP-1 agonist. The therapy is being evaluated in Phase I clinical trials as a treatment for obesity, T2D, and other comorbidities.

Last week, Novo Nordisk entered a research partnership with Flagship Pioneering and Metaphore Biotechnologies to jointly develop up to two next-generation therapeutics for managing obesity. Novo will bear responsibility for clinical trials while the other two companies will head foundational and preclinical activities.

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