Boxes of Ozempic and Wegovy made by Novo Nordisk can be seen at a pharmacy.
Holly Adams | Reuters
Shares of a Danish pharmaceutical giant New Nordisk fell more than 24% at one point on Friday after it reported results in a late-stage trial for its experimental weight loss drug CagriSema that missed expectations.
The maker of the popular obesity drug Wegovy said its new drug candidate helped patients reduce their weight by 22.7%, lower than the 25% it told CNBC it had previously predicted.
The stock had pared some losses to trade down around 19.35% at 1:10pm London time. Shares of a competing obesity drug manufacturer Eli Lilly it jumped 10% in premarket trading but came off highs to trade about 5% higher.
The results of the trial give a blow to expectations that CagriSema could be the next generation obesity drug. The injectable two-drug treatment combines semaglutide, the active ingredient in Wegovy, with the amylin analogue Cagrilintide, which nascent form of weight loss treatment.
The phase three trial was based on about 3,400 people with obesity, or who were overweight with one or more co-morbidities, and took place over 68 weeks.
In comments to CNBC, however, Novo said that CagriSema outperformed Wegovy in weight reduction and that its performance was “on par with best-in-class treatments.”
“We are encouraged by the weight loss profile of CagriSema showing superiority over both semaglutide and cagrilintide in monotherapy in the REDEFINE 1 trial. This was achieved even though only 57% of patients reached the maximum CagriSema dose,” said Martin Holst Lange, executive vice president. for Development at Novo Nordisk, he said in a separate press release.
“Given the observations received from the REDEFINE 1 trial, we plan to further investigate the additional weight loss potential of CagriSema,” he said.
Novo said that the main and full results will be presented next year and that it plans to submit the drug by the end of 2025. Results from a second phase 3 trial, REDEFINE 2, based on adults with -type 2 sugar that is fat or obese. fat, also expected in the first half of next year.
'Efficiency as expected'
In a note on Friday, JP Morgan acknowledged that although the results were disappointing, it continued to see strong potential for the nascent amylin analog drug group, which may be more tolerable than the traditional weight loss treatment GLP -1.
“Although the primary weight loss for the CagriSema combo was lower than expected, possibly due to patients adjusting the dose down for the combo, we believe that the primary data of Amylin mono show efficacy according to expectations and good tolerance, which provides confirmation of Amylin mono as its treatment method,” wrote the analysts.
They said the findings support an amylin analogue drug from a competitor Pharma Zealandwhose treatment may be more effective than CagriSema. New Zealand CEO Adam Steensberg told CNBC in October that the drug Petrillintide was his “crown jewel” and that looking for a partner to bring it to market.
JP Morgan said it now expects a partnership as soon as next year.
It comes as competition is increasing in the weight loss drug market, with more players joining the bra amid high demand.
Earlier this month, Novo faced another setback when head-to-head clinical trial Eli Lilly's Zepbound showed better weight loss results than Wegovy.
The Lilly-sponsored trial showed that Zepbound helped patients shed 20.2%, or about 50 pounds, on average after 72 weeks, while Wegovy helped them lose 13.7% more less on average over the same period. Novo said at the time that it was waiting for the full data.
