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Novo Nordisk is searching for the “maximum potential weight loss” that can be achieved from its potential drug CagriSema, as it tries to convince disappointed investors that the medicine has a bright future.
The Danish group lost some €90bn in market capitalisation in December after preliminary trial results showed CagriSema had missed its target of 25 per cent average weight loss, with only 40 per cent of participants hitting that goal.
Instead, patients achieved an average weight loss of 22.7 per cent, making investors worry it could not outcompete the current blockbuster Zepbound made by US rival Eli Lilly.
Martin Lange, executive vice-president at Novo Nordisk, said the company had extended one trial of CagriSema and started another longer trial to discover what would happen if patients took it for more than 68 weeks.
He added that more detailed results from the previous CagriSema trial, presented at the American Diabetes Association conference on Sunday, showed it offered more weight loss than Novo Nordisk’s existing product Wegovy with a similar level of side effects.
“What people haven’t seen in detail yet is the side effect profile, as in, there will be a lot of comfort in that substantial weight loss potential . . . with a comparable safety and tolerability profile,” he said.
The more detailed data also shows the drug appeared to have an impact on patients’ cardiovascular health. Novo is investigating this effect in a separate trial.
The previous disappointing CagriSema data is one factor that has pushed Novo Nordisk’s share price down more than 50 per cent in the past year. Investors also worry it is losing market share to Lilly.
The Danish drugmaker’s board ousted chief executive Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen last month in response.
Analysts had criticised Novo Nordisk for setting a goal of 25 per cent weight loss for the CagriSema trial and for not explaining clearly to the market that trial participants were not on a fixed dose, with some holding back from taking the highest amount.
Lange said the new data showed that people who lost more weight were often those who changed their dose. “Their desire for weight loss is not always a very, very fast and dramatic weight loss. That can be unhelpful.”
On Saturday, Novo Nordisk also announced results of two studies of amycretin, another obesity drug that is at an earlier stage in trials. One found that an injectable version of the drug caused average weight loss of 24 per cent, higher than the drugs on the market at the moment.
Another found that patients taking it as a pill lost over 13 per cent of their body weight on average, but the company suggested this could be higher if the drug was taken for longer.
