Wegovy is manufactured by the pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk and is specifically approved for chronic weight management in adults and adolescents. (Photo by Steve Christo – Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images)
Steve Crist – Corbis | Corbis News | Getty Images
The CEO of pharmaceutical company Zealand Pharma sought to soothe investors over the latest trial results that showed patients lost less weight than expected, sending the company’s stock price down more than 35%.
In an interview with CNBC, CEO Adam Steensberg criticized what he called the “weight loss Olympics,” in which markets and companies place too much emphasis on weight loss, rather than factors such as long-term adherence and managing side effects.
He said the world does not need these products that result in very high weight loss rates. novo nordisk and Eli Lilly. He added that the latest trials were not optimized for maximum weight loss.
“We need to focus on what patients need, not what the current market wants,” Steensberg said. “We have been calling for the Weight Loss Olympics to be canceled for a long time.”
Zealand is partnering with a Swiss pharmaceutical giant to develop a drug called petrelintide. Roche. Interim trial results released after the final bell on Thursday showed the drug led to an average weight loss of 10.7% over 42 weeks. Analysts had expected a weight loss of roughly 13% to 20%.
Zealand shares were last trading 35% lower, their worst day on record and their lowest closing price since August 2023. Roche It fell 3%.
Focusing on weight maintenance, rather than maximum weight loss in the short term, has emerged as a way for companies looking to differentiate themselves in the lucrative weight-loss drug market, estimated to be worth up to $150 billion by 2030.
Steensberg said he is “very confident” there will be a shift “towards tolerability” in the industry, citing how well patients can cope with the drug’s side effects.
“I think very, very quickly, people will start to realize that it’s not the weight loss numbers that matter, it’s how you achieve that weight loss number that matters.”
“If you look at the real world, you’ll actually find that most patients who are currently being treated with the current products never reach the numbers that we see in clinical studies,” he said, referring to Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly’s drugs that are already on the market because “in a real-world setting, people can’t tolerate it.”
Petrelintide is an amylin analog that targets hormones produced in the pancreas that affect appetite and slow gastric emptying, rather than the GLP-1 or GIP gut hormones that are targeted by currently marketed weight loss treatments such as Novo’s Wegovy and Lilly’s Zepbound.
The majority of patients using Novo’s Wegovy experience some side effects, the most common being gastrointestinal side effects such as nausea, diarrhea, and vomiting. Most are mild to moderate and temporary. Lilly’s Zepbound follows a similar trend.
A Novo spokesperson said direct comparisons between trials were difficult because of variations in study design and reporting practices. A study of high-dose semaglutide, the active ingredient in Wegovy and Ozempic, found that patients lost up to 21% of their body weight, and only 5.4% of patients discontinued treatment due to side effects, the spokesperson said. Only 3.3% discontinued treatment due to gastrointestinal side effects.
Lilly did not respond to CNBC’s request for comment.
In the trial results, Dr. Zealand said that at the highest dose of petrelintide, there were “no instances of vomiting or treatment discontinuation due to gastrointestinal adverse events.” The study involved 493 people living with overweight and obesity.
Also in development is a combination of petrelintide and Roche’s GLP-1/GIP receptor CT-388, which Zealand says could be a better option for patients who need significant weight loss.
real world possibilities
One study of more than 125,000 patients suggests that about 50% of obese patients stop taking GLP-1 drugs that regulate appetite within a year. Common reasons for discontinuation are high cost and side effects.
A study published in the British Medical Journal in January found that people who lost weight with the help of GLP-1 drugs regained weight significantly faster after discontinuation than those who lost weight with diet and exercise.
Obese patients who stopped taking GLP-1 drugs were expected to return to their starting weight after 1.7 years, compared with 3.9 years for patients who lost weight through behavioral changes alone, the study found.
The rate at which patients lose weight with the drugs has been a key factor driving Novo and Lilly’s stock prices in recent years.
Novo stock is trading 75% below its mid-2024 peak, while Lilly stock has risen over the same period as the company’s drug has been shown to result in higher rates of weight loss.
On Friday, Jefferies analysts said petrelintide has the potential for Wegovy-like efficacy and placebo-like tolerability, “suggesting this is a viable drug.”
But they added that it would likely be seen as the next best option to the amylin treatment being developed by Lilly.
“For us, as a small business, to be one of the leading products in a new category…is really great,” Steensberg said, adding that it was too early to make such a call.
“If you look back at the history of the market, if you are among the first three to enter a new category with an attractive profile, you will become a very important player in that category.”
He added that the latest trials were not optimized to maximize weight loss, as the sex ratio was almost 50/50, with women tending to lose more weight than men.
“Most companies will get closer to the 70% female goal,” he said, adding that he is “confident” that petrelintide will lead to weight loss in mid-teens if the starting conditions are optimized.
The trial results announced Thursday were aimed at “finding a dose and demonstrating safety and robust efficacy,” he said.
Zealand said it plans to begin a Phase 3 trial later this year. But Barclays analysts said the market was unlikely to accept a Phase 3 “fix” for petrelintide within two years.
