(Reuters) -Eli Lilly said on Thursday it will start late-stage trials of its experimental obesity drug next month after it helped patients lose as much as 20.1% of their weight in a mid-stage trial.
The drugmaker’s shares rose nearly 2% in premarket trading.
The first wave of obesity drugs, which dominate the market, has mainly focused on the gut hormone GLP-1, but drugmakers are now looking for medicines that target other hormones or help preserve muscle mass during fat-loss with their next generation of drugs.
The experimental once-weekly drug, eloralintide, belongs to the class of drugs that mimic the pancreatic hormone amylin which slows digestion and suppresses hunger.
Large drugmakers such as Roche and AbbVie have signed deals to access experimental amylin drugs. Zealand Pharma, whose shares traded down 9.5% at 1216 GMT, is testing its rival experimental drug, petrelintide, in collaboration with partner Roche.
In an early-stage trial Lilly’s drug helped some patients lose more than 11% of their body weight at 12 weeks.
In the mid-stage trial, patients on 1 mg dose of eloralintide lost 9.5% or 10.2 kilograms and 20.1% or 21.3 kgs at the highest 9 mg dose. This compares to 0.2 kg weight loss seen in patients on placebo at 48 weeks.
The study enrolled 263 adults who were overweight with at least one obesity-related comorbidity and without type 2 diabetes.
Lilly’s drug also showed improvement across factors like waist circumference, blood pressure, lipid profiles, glycemic control, and markers of inflammation.
The most common side effects were mild to moderate gastrointestinal symptoms and fatigue, which were seen more frequently at higher doses. Patients in groups that gradually increased doses of the drug saw lower side effects.
The data shows eloralintide offers the potential for strong efficacy with improved tolerability and could serve as an alternative to incretin therapies, said Kenneth Custer, president of Lilly Cardiometabolic Health.
The drug is also being studied as a standalone treatment and in combination with Lilly’s blockbuster GLP-1 drug, tirzepatide, sold as Zepbound, in mid-stage trials.
Eli Lilly and Danish rival Novo Nordisk are also awaiting a potential White House deal that would reduce prices of their blockbuster weight-loss treatments in return for expanded market access.
(Reporting by Sriparna Roy in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)
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