A pharmaceutical giant will test an experimental treatment in response to the surge in demand for obesity treatments
Pfizer has accelerated the trials of a weight loss pill that can be taken once a day. Drug makers are racing to create easier-to-take obesity treatments.
The US pharmaceutical firm said that it plans to begin studies testing different doses of experimental treatment in the second half of this year.
Pfizer is developing several drugs, but its danuglipron once-daily treatment was deemed the most advanced. It also had the greatest potential for being competitive on the market.
Mikael DOLSTEN, Pfizer’s chief scientific officer, president of research, and former chief executive of Pfizer, stated that the goal is to “address present and persistent medical requirements of people with obesity”.
The competition between pharmaceutical companies is increasing to create the next generation treatments for weight loss in response to the growing demand.
Analysts predict that the market will be worth up to $130bn over the next few years.
Novo Nordisk, Eli Lilly and their weight loss injections Wegovy or Mounjaro have dominated the market up until now. Novo Nordisk makes Ozempic – a diabetic drug that is used off-label for obesity.
Novo Nordisk surpassed luxury company LVMH to become Europe’s largest listed company in the past year. The shares of US-based Eli Lilly have risen by almost 60% in the past year.
Both companies are testing weight loss pills, which is seen as the next step in obesity treatment.
Novo Nordisk has recently claimed that its obesity pill, which is a blockbuster in the market, could help patients lose weight faster than other treatments.
Early trials have shown that patients can lose up to 13pc of body weight in just 12 weeks.
Some have suggested that the switch to pills rather than injections would be more environmentally friendly, due to concerns about how much plastic is currently used in existing treatments. Pascal Soriot (AstraZeneca CEO) said in an interview earlier this year that using plastic pens for injections of weight-loss medications would “create an issue at some point”.
He said: “If a billion people use one plastic pen each week, then that’s a ton of plastic.”
AstraZeneca has also developed a weight loss pill with the goal of leapfrogging competitors with a potentially cheaper obesity drug.
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