A new weight loss drug could help patients lose double the amount of fat they would lose with popular drugs such as Ozempic, early trial data has shown.
Obese patients who received the weekly injection lost an average of about 19 percent of their body weight after five and a half months of treatment.
By comparison, a number of studies have shown that semaglutide – the drug in Wegovy and Ozempic – results in a reduction in body weight of about 10 percent after six months.
Additionally, those with pre-diabetes who took the new drug were all found to be in remission by the end of the trial.
The trial data, unveiled on Thursday by Swiss pharmaceutical giant Roche, shows that the number of side effects is comparable to that of other currently available injections.
Roche’s study found that participants on the drug lost an average of 18.8 percent of their body weight over 24 weeks
Roche’s share price rose by four percent after news of the new drug. Shown above for the past five days
Side effects included mild to moderate gastrointestinal effects such as nausea and vomiting.
The drug, called CT-388, was tested in a phase 1 study designed to check whether drugs are safe for human use.
The study involved 31 obese adults with no underlying conditions, including type 2 diabetes. A separate trial is planned to test the drug in diabetics.
By week 24, results showed that 45 percent of participants had lost more than 20 percent of their body weight.
All participants had lost at least five percent of their weight.
Ozempic and Wegovy work by mimicking high levels of naturally occurring hormones that regulate blood sugar levels and suppress appetite.
Roche’s drug works similarly to Mounjaro and Zepbound, made by pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly.
It contains the drug tirzepatide which, unlike semaglutide, acts on not one but two appetite suppressing hormones.
These are Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) and the hormone Glucose-dependent insulintropic polypeptide (GIP) – which both induce feelings of fullness and suppress appetite.
Studies on Mounjaro and Zepbound suggest that patients can lose about 20 percent of their body weight after 36 weeks if they use the medication once a week.
Dr. Levi Garraway, Roche’s Chief Medical Officer, said: ‘We are very pleased to see the significant and clinically meaningful weight loss in people treated with CT-388.
‘The results are very encouraging for the further development of CT-388 for both obesity and type 2 diabetes and underline its potential to become a best-in-class therapy with sustainable weight loss and glucose control.’
The drug still has a long way to go before it reaches the approval stage, and several studies are still needed to prove its efficacy.
No price for the drug has been disclosed either, but Ozempic costs more than $900 per month.
The development comes at a time when pharmaceutical companies are rushing to cash in on the boom in the weight loss market, which is expected to rise to a value of $44 billion by 2030, up from less than $100 million in 2020.
More than nine million prescriptions were written for medicines including Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro in the last three months of 2022, with companies rushing to expand supply to meet demand.
It also comes amid a widespread shortage of weight loss drugs, with many patients currently struggling to get their hands on Zepbound and Mounjaro.
FDA data shows there are also shortages of Wegovy in some areas, which has been linked to the “surge in demand” before the summer.
Roche’s share prices rose immediately after the study results were announced, up four percent.
Other companies have also seen their share prices rise after announcing new weight loss drugs, including Novo Nordisk, which saw its shares rise more than eight percent in March after reporting a 13 percent weight loss after 12 weeks in Phase 1 trials of his new Amycretin. pill.
California-based Viking Therapeutics saw its stock value double after it reported phase two results for its own weight-loss drug.
