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Pfizer missed its first chance to join Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly in the fast-growing GLP-1 obesity drug market, and Chief Executive Albert Bourla is advising investors not to give up so quickly a second time around.
As the company reported on Tuesday, Second Quarter EarningsBourla said on a conference call with analysts that he believes Pfizer is still well positioned to offer an oral GLP-1 weight-loss drug. Many rival candidates To Novo and Lilly.
The company’s recent progress with an experimental drug called danugliplon comes after several setbacks, including Pfizer’s decision to scrap another drug. Clinical Stage Compounds Development of Danuglipron also suspended due to safety concerns Early data slows things down This indicates a high incidence of side effects.
Pfizer claims it’s back on track. Earlier this month, the company Once-daily administration Studies testing how danurigupron interacts in the body appeared to show a more favorable profile in healthy volunteers.
Despite the earlier slowdown, Bourla sees Pfizer’s pill as second only to Eli Lilly’s Orforgliplon as an oral drug that acts on the gut hormone GLP-1. Novo’s Wegovy and Eli Lilly’s Zepbound, both injectable drugs, are now the mainstays of obesity treatment.
Pfizer’s data so far comes from 1,400 patients and is “very competitive in terms of both durability and efficacy compared to what others have in the oral space,” Bourla said on the earnings call. “As far as we know, we’re the only other company, after Lilly of course, that has oral GLP-1[Phase 2b]data.”
If danugliplon’s trials are successful, Pfizer would aim to enter a market that some analysts estimate could reach $100 billion in annual sales by the 2030s. $1.3 billion Q1 2024 and Zepbound $517 million.
But both are now well established and have been shown to prevent obesity-related health complications such as cardiovascular disease and sleep apnea. This additional data is seen as essential to persuading insurers to cover more people for the drugs.
Lilly’s orforgliplon is already in Phase 3 trials, well ahead of danugliplon.Novo sells an oral GLP-1 tablet, a peptide drug that requires patients to take up to 50 milligrams of Wegovy’s active ingredient, semaglutide, per day, versus up to 2.4 milligrams per week if taken by injection.Novo is also developing a drug called amicretin, which is in early stages of testing.
Both Novo and Lilly have struggled to produce enough peptide drugs to keep up with demand, and the companies Billions of dollars To Expand manufacturing capacityThe shortage has also sparked interest in small chemical molecules that target GLP-1, such as orforgliplon and danugliplon, which are easy to manufacture.
Roche is Oral GLP-1 drugs follow The treatment is in phase 1 trials and is among a suite of treatments the Swiss pharmaceutical giant acquired through its $2.7 billion acquisition of Carmot Therapeutics.
