Novo Nordisk reported its weight loss pill amycretin led to greater weight loss measured at 12 weeks compared to clinical trial results for its blockbuster obesity drug Wegovy. But these results are from a small Phase 1 study and more testing is needed. By FRANK VINLUAN An experimental Novo Nordisk obesity pill led to weight loss of 13.1% in a clinical trial, topping results posted in studies of the company’s approved injectable medication Wegovy. It’s early days and more testing is needed, but the preliminary data suggest that this pill has the potential to offer patients superior weight shedding in a more convenient oral formulation. Phase 1 data for the once-daily Novo Nordisk pill, amycretin, were presented Thursday during a company investor event. The study followed participants for 12 weeks. In that span, those who received a placebo lost 1.1% of their body weight. Wegovy, which is administered as a ...
Despite persistent supply hitches since Wegovy’s launch in 2021, Novo Nordisk has quickly garnered blockbuster sales in the newly untapped obesity market. And to hear Novo’s CEO Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen tell it, the company is “just getting going” in the field. In 2024, Novo Nordisk plans to entrench itself even deeper into the burgeoning obesity market, Jørgensen said Tuesday at the 42nd annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference. To get there, Novo will rely on expanded manufacturing capacity, new cardiovascular outcomes data and a surprise boost from Eli Lilly’s rival weight-loss drug Zepbound, which snagged its own obesity nod in November. Novo’s Wegovy proved immensely popular out the gate. Initially, the company struggled to contend with the unprecedented spike in demand for its new semaglutide-based medicine. But after a sustained manufacturing expansion campaign over the past two years, Jørgensen figures Novo is in a comfortable position moving into 2024. In 2023, ...
Novo Nordisk has said it will be investing more than $2.3bn to expand its existing production site in France “for the current and future product portfolio within serious chronic diseases”. The investment will “significantly increase” the capacity of the Chartres manufacturing facility, Novo said, including for its GLP-1 products in the cardiometabolic disease space. The site in Chartres was first established in 1961 and currently employs around 1,600 people, with more than 500 new jobs expected to be created as a result of the expansion. Lone Charlotte Larsen, corporate vice president of Novo Nordisk Production Chartres, said: “This significant investment… confirms the importance of our French manufacturing site, one of our strategic production sites, as a cornerstone of the growth we are experiencing as a company. “By maximising the skills and infrastructure we already have on the site, we are expanding our capacity in an efficient way.” The expansion is ...
Novo Nordisk announced plans to expand one of its production facilities in Chartres, France, as it scales up its serious chronic disease product portfolio. Under the Dkr16bn ($2.29bn) investment, Novo Nordisk is increasing the capacity of the manufacturing site by extending the current quality control laboratory, adding aseptic production, and finishing production processes. The company predicts that this will bring over 500 new jobs once construction is completed. According to the press release, the investment includes additional capacity for GLP-1 products such as Novo’s Ozempic (semaglutide). Novo Nordisk first launched the GLP-1 therapy Semaglutide, in the US in December 2017, under the brand name Ozempic. The drug has since been approved in the US, Canada, EU, Japan, and Australia as a treatment for T2D. Novo Nordisk later launched the therapy under the name Wegovy for the treatment of weight loss, together with diet and physical activity. Novo Nordisk is a ...
Unable to scale up its manufacturing fast enough to meet the spiraling demand for its GLP-1 weight loss products, Novo Nordisk is employing a new strategy—reducing production of diabetes drug Victoza to make more Ozempic. Novo and the European Medicines Agency (EMA) divulged (PDF) the move in a letter to healthcare professionals, warning of a growing shortage of both medicines that is set to intensify during the rest of the fourth quarter. With the shortage of Victoza expected to continue into the second quarter of next year, the EMA has instructed healthcare providers not to start new patients on the drug until then. While Victoza (liraglutide) and Ozempic (semaglutide) are both GLP-1 drugs, the former—which was originally approved in 2010—is not used for weight loss. Intermittent shortages of Ozempic are expected to persist throughout 2024, though the overall supply situation should improve in the first quarter of next year, according ...
In response to an onslaught from Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk is escalating the obesity market battle with a new head-to-head trial against its archrival.Novo has unveiled a new phase 3 trial pitting CagriSema, a fixed-dose combination of Wegovy and the investigational drug cagrilintide, against Lilly’s Zepbound in people with obesity, according to a clinicaltrials.gov entry. The study plans to enroll 800 patients, and those with diabetes are excluded. Its primary goal is to evaluate how well the two companies’ therapies could help people lose weight relative to each other after 72 weeks of treatment.In addition, the trial will measure the number of patients in each arm who’ve achieved at least 25% or 30% weight reduction at the end of treatment. Other secondary endpoints include changes in cholesterol levels, triglycerides, waist circumference, systolic blood pressure and serious side effects. The Novo trial comes about seven months after Lilly launched a head-to-head phase 3 study testing Zepbound—also known ...
Novo Nordisk has made a splash with its GLP-1 drugs that have allowed patients to achieve significant weight loss. Now the Danish company appears on the verge of another breakthrough, showing that the use of its obesity treatment Wegovy can reduce the risk of heart attack in some patients. Perhaps even more importantly, Novo said this weekend in Philadelphia at the American Heart Association (AHA) Scientific Sessions that the cardiovascular benefits gained from Wegovy aren’t due solely to weight loss. The phase 3 SELECT trial showed that use of Wegovy versus placebo lowered the risk of a non-fatal heart attack by 28% and the risk of progression of chronic kidney disease and renal death by 22%. Additionally in the study—which included nondiabetic obese and overweight patients with established cardiovascular disease—Wegovy was found to reduce the risk of heart-related death by 15% and the risk of death by any cause by ...
Novo Nordisk has agreed to acquire ocedurenone, a drug for uncontrolled hypertension, from KBP Biosciences in a deal worth up to $1.3bn. Ocedurenone, an orally administered, small molecule, non-steroidal mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist, is currently being evaluated in the late-stage CLARION-CKD trial as a treatment option for patients with uncontrolled hypertension as well as for those with advanced chronic kidney disease (CKD). Uncontrolled hypertension is when a person’s blood pressure remains high despite taking two or more blood pressure-lowering treatments. An estimated 1.28 billion adults aged 30 to 79 years worldwide have hypertension and only about 21% have it under control, marking a significant unmet need in the treatment of the condition. Martin Holst Lange, executive vice president and head of development at Novo, said: “Hypertension is a leading risk factor for cardiovascular events, heart failure, CKD and premature death. “With its expected benefit-risk profile, ocedurenone has best-in-class potential in treating ...
The KBP Biosciences drug Novo Nordisk is acquiring has reached Phase 3 testing as a potential treatment for uncontrolled hypertension and advanced chronic kidney disease. It’s the latest in a string of business deals aimed at expanding the Novo Nordisk pipeline beyond diabetes. By FRANK VINLUAN Novo Nordisk has again turned to dealmaking to expand its pipeline, but rather than adding yet another weight loss drug prospect the company is acquiring a molecule that’s a potential treatment for uncontrolled hypertension and chronic kidney disease. The Danish pharmaceutical giant has agreed to buy ocedurenone, a drug that KBP Biosciences has advanced to Phase 3 testing. Specific financial details, such as an upfront payment and milestones, were not disclosed Monday, but Novo Nordisk said it could end up paying out up to $1.3 billion. The target of KBP’s drug is the mineralocorticoid receptor, whose overactivation is associated with hypertension and chronic kidney ...
The popular diabetes med Ozempic and its sister weight-loss drug Wegovy are boosting Novo Nordisk to new highs again and again. The Danish company now expects full-year sales to grow between 32% and 38% at constant exchange rates. The new projection, released on Friday, represents a 5-percentage-point increase on both ends of the range from an August estimate, which itself was 3 percentage points higher than a previous forecast from April. Novo’s share price at one point traded at around $104 on the New York Stock Exchange on Friday, a new all-time high. Huge demand for Ozempic—which is often used off-label to treat obesity—plus new discount adjustments for Ozempic and Wegovy in the U.S. drove the updated sales outlook, Novo explained in a release. Novo on Friday also dialed up its estimated profit growth rate by 9 percentage points to a range of 40% to 46%. The company released the ...
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