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Vials move along a conveyor belt at the Novo Nordisk A/S production facility in Hillerod, Denmark, Monday, June 12, 2023. The success of Novo’s bestsellers, Ozempic and Wegovy, medicines that help people to lose significant amounts of weight, has created something of a gold rush in the pharmaceutical industry with around 40 companies developing products that will intensify competition.
Bloomberg | Bloomberg | fake images
Shares in Denmark’s Zealand Pharma soared after the company reported strong results in a trial of a liver disease treatment that has been touted as a potential competitor in the booming weight-loss drug market.
The Phase 2 trial of the drug survodutide showed that 83% of adults tested positive for a form of liver inflammation caused by excess fat cells known as “MASH,” the company said in an announcement Monday.
The drug has “proven effectiveness” in people with obesity and is currently in five Phase 3 trials in a clinical program for people who are overweight or obese. It has received fast track designation from the US Food and Drug Administration.
Analysts latched onto the drug’s possible effectiveness in obesity research following the latest test results, which indicated the safety of the maximum dose used in that trial.
Zealand Pharma shares are up 32% at 11:15 a.m. London time, amid enthusiasm about the company’s potential in the highly lucrative obesity market that fueled its Danish colleague Novo Nordisk becomes the most valuable company in Europe thanks to the development of Ozempic and Wegovy. Several other companies, including Eli Lilly, Roche and AstraZeneca, are also looking to compete in the sector.
“Top-line results demonstrated an improvement in MASH, at all doses explored in the trial. Treatment with survodutide showed no unexpected safety or tolerability issues, even at the highest dose of 6.0 mg,” said Michael Novod. , director of health equity at Nordea bank. research team said in a Monday note, praising Zealand Pharma’s latest research results as an “unequivocal victory for survodutide.”
“Importantly, the MASH trial (Phase 2) also tells us that the 6 mg dose is safe, which is also the maximum dose used in the ongoing obesity trial (Phase 3),” he added.
Jefferies analysts assessed that “Zeal Pharma’s position as a key player in the next wave of obesity therapies is underrated,” highlighting the importance of German co-inventor Boehringer Ingelheim.‘s announcement that the drug will advance as “rapidly as possible” in the treatment of liver diseases and related conditions.
The pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim is financing and directing the clinical development of survodutide.