The obesity treatment corporations Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk have completed clinical trials for oral medication development and are approaching commercialization possibilities.
The two corporations have released the obesity treatments zepbound (Korean product name mounjaro) and Wegovy, both of which are injectable medications administered once a week, but they are competing to launch a pill that can be taken once a day. The market is paying attention to whether these corporations' follow-up medications can continue the obesity drug trend.
The U.S. pharmaceutical corporation Eli Lilly announced on the 26th (local time) that it has met all primary and secondary endpoints in the phase 3 clinical trial of its oral glucagon-like peptide (GLP)-1 treatment orforglipron. GLP-1 is a hormone that induces a feeling of fullness and helps in weight loss by slowing the rate at which food leaves the stomach and suppressing appetite.
Phase 3 clinical trials provide key data that determine whether the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will approve the treatment. The company released half of the phase 3 trial data (Attain-1) earlier this month and has now announced the remaining results (Attain-2).
According to the company, in this phase 3 trial, which observed participants for 72 weeks, the weight of patients taking the maximum dose of 36mg once daily decreased by an average of 10.5% (about 10.4kg). The placebo group only saw an average reduction of 2.2%. The 12mg and 6mg groups also showed reductions of 7.8% and 5.5%, respectively.
More than half of the high-dose group lost more than 10% of their body weight, and about 28% of the treatment group lost over 15%. This is similar to the level of the company's injectable obesity treatment zepbound (Zepbound, Korean product name mounjaro).
The blood sugar improvement effect has also been confirmed. In the 36mg treatment group, glycated hemoglobin (A1C) decreased by an average of 1.8 percentage points by the 72nd week, starting from an average of 8.1%. Cardiovascular risk factors such as cholesterol, blood pressure, and triglycerides have also improved. Safety indicators were consistent with previous clinical results. The company plans to present detailed data from this study at a medical conference and through publications.
Kenneth Custer, president of Eli Lilly's metabolic health sector, said, "These results demonstrate that orforglipron has the potential to achieve consistently meaningful weight loss and A1C reductions, similar to those observed in key clinical trials of injectable treatments," adding that they are rapidly pursuing global approval processes to meet patient needs based on positive data.
The market also reacted positively to this announcement. On this day, Eli Lilly's stock price rose by 5.69% compared to the previous day. On the 7th, when the company reported an average weight loss of 12.4% (27.3 pounds) in a population of obese patients without diabetes, there was a negative assessment in the market, leading to a drop of 14.14% compared to the previous day.
At that time, the impact was significant compared to the competitor Novo Nordisk, which had demonstrated a weight loss effect of over 15% with its injectable combination drug 'CagriSema,' a follow-up treatment for the obesity drug Wegovy. This time, the results showed improvements in efficacy, blood sugar, and cardiovascular risk factors, which are more challenging in patients with diabetes, positively influencing investor sentiment.
Novo Nordisk submitted a request for approval for the oral version of Wegovy, a semaglutide treatment, last April and is awaiting results. The market anticipates an FDA approval decision within this year.
The company is also developing an amycretin candidate, a triple-action agent of GLP-1, gastric inhibitory peptide (GIP), and amylin in the phase 3 stage. GIP promotes insulin secretion to lower blood sugar and increases feelings of fullness, while amylin, secreted alongside insulin, slows gastric emptying and acts on the brain to suppress appetite.
There are also predictions that the market will expand as obesity treatments are being developed in various forms beyond existing injectables, including oral and transdermal applications.
Domestic corporations such as Daewoong Pharmaceutical, Daewon Pharmaceutical, and Dong-A ST are also challenging the development of microneedle patch-type obesity treatments that adhere to the skin. These treatments work by delivering obesity treatment medications through microneedles applied to the skin, similar to a patch.
Investment bank Goldman Sachs projected that the obesity treatment market will grow at an average annual rate of about 50% and will reach a scale of $100 billion (approximately 139 trillion won) by 2030, comparable to the hypertension treatment market.