novo nordisk and Eli Lilly covered the fight against GLP-1 drugs at this weekend’s preeminent Obesity Conference in preparation for the next big change in how patients receive their medications.
Novo Nordisk announced Sunday that more than 3 million people have prescribed Wigovy tablets since entering the U.S. market about five months ago. The Danish drugmaker’s CEO, Mike Doesder, celebrated the milestone in an interview with CNBC, saying Novo was able to accelerate prescribing, even though Lilly launched its own GLP-1 pill in April.
“If that’s not acceleration, I don’t know what is,” Dusdar told CNBC at this weekend’s American Diabetes Association scientific session.
Meanwhile, Lilly CEO Dave Ricks told CNBC that the number of prescriptions for the company’s Foundayo pill is “significantly higher” than the 20,000 prescriptions Lilly reported around six weeks ago, around the time of its first-quarter results, but did not provide specific numbers. He said that number was increasing week by week and Lilly was pleased with the progress.
Competition for the weight-loss drug market is new for longtime rivals. Signs of that tension were evident throughout this weekend’s industry events. Cars were driving around advertising Novo’s Wigovy tablets, and part of the floor of the New Orleans convention center was covered with pictures of Lilly’s Foundayo tablets.
And the companies will soon make the case for daily pills and weekly shots for seniors. Starting in July, millions of people on Medicare will have access to GLP-1 drugs for weight loss for $50 a month. Previously, Medicare beneficiaries had to pay out-of-pocket for obesity drugs, which could cost hundreds of dollars a month. Both companies say that although their pitches differ, they are focused on increasing awareness of their programs.
Weight loss drugs available: Heaps of GLP-1 tablets
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Dusdahl believes the program could be an opportunity to regain some of the ground Novo’s Wegoby shot lost to Lilly’s Sepp bounce. He said the drug company plans to promote other health benefits of Wigoby on its label, including the fact that it can reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases such as heart attacks and strokes. He said, “If common sense prevails, Novo should be able to win along with its predecessors, and I am putting myself in their shoes.”
“If you’re using a high dose of Wegovy, why wouldn’t you take a product that has the same efficacy percentage-wise as its competitors?” he said. “Plus, you get kidney, liver, heart and stroke protection, for example, for free. If I were 10 years older, I would get it.”
Lily’s pitch to her seniors is a matter of convenience. While the company’s Faundayo tablet can be taken at any time with food, water or other medicines, Novo’s tablet must be taken on an empty stomach with a small amount of water and then fasted for 30 minutes.
“The important thing is that it’s easy,” Ricks says. “This is something you can incorporate into your daily life. Most seniors take a lot of other medications and have a pill case that they use every day. This fits right in there without a second thought.”
Ricks said Lilly was working closely with the government to prepare and was confident. humanaThey do a good job of processing prescription requests. He believes the program is popular with older adults and that in the long term, the initiative could help prove that obesity care should be “normal health care.”
“We need to prove it in this experiment, prove cost-effectiveness, and then reset what we expect from health insurance, which means obesity care should be medical care,” Ricks said.
Lilly and Novo are seeking to expand insurance coverage for GLP-1 drugs for obesity. At least one analysis found the drug to be cost-effective, but employers are hesitant to pay for the treatment because so many people qualify for it and many patients stop treatment after achieving their weight loss goals. Health insurance company Cigna announced last week that it would stop covering pharmaceutical products for its employees.
At Lilly, fewer than 20% of beneficiaries are using the drug for weight loss, and people continue to take it, Rix said. Lilly conducts internal studies to measure healthcare costs and outcomes such as hospitalization rates, diabetes progression, and cardiovascular events. Lilly said he plans to publish the results later this year.
The next stage of the GLP-1 race
The companies are preparing to introduce more obesity drugs while preparing for Medicare coverage. At a conference this weekend, Lilly presented Phase 3 data for letaltortide, an experimental triple agonist that helps people lose an average of 28% of their weight if they continue to take the drug. Almost half lost more than 30% of their body weight, which is about the same amount as bariatric surgery. The drug also helped improve related conditions such as knee osteoarthritis and sleep apnea.
Initially, Ricks expects letaltortide to be used primarily to treat people with a high body mass index (BMI). He’s also excited about the drug’s second-lowest strength. This resulted in an average weight loss of 19% with fewer side effects than the more intense versions.
One question was whether Letaltortide is so potent that Lilly would make it available on its direct-to-consumer platform LillyDirect once it is approved by the Food and Drug Administration. Ricks said Lilly “absolutely” intends to make the drug available there.
For Novo, the upcoming drug is called CagriSema. It combines Wegovy’s main ingredient with another molecule called kagrylintide, which mimics another hormone called amylin. The drug’s effectiveness overwhelmed investors, as it showed similar weight loss to Lilly’s Zepbound and less than Lilly’s Ritartide. Dusdahl said he believes the drug’s efficacy advantage over Wegoby is meaningful, even if it’s just a few percentage points, and is committed to launching Kaglisema. Novo expects an approval decision for the drug from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in the fourth quarter of this year.
“If we have to forget about CagriSema, we have to forget about many other products as well,” Doustdar said. “I don’t think it should work that way.”
Dusdahl became chief executive about a year ago after a major shakeup that led to the resignation of the company’s previous leader and the layoff of thousands of employees. He is tasked with reinvigorating Wegovy’s sales, the company’s pipeline, and its stock price. Ultimately, Novo will become more diversified in cardiometabolic health and some “adjacent areas” such as diabetes and obesity, he said.
Meanwhile, Dusdahl said the early success of Wigovy tablets helped Novo regain momentum.
“This pill was a great example of convincing people that we can do this and that better days are ahead of us at Novo Nordisk,” he said. “So we need to ensure that the positive moments we are currently in turn into long-term trends, so that we can earn trust every day and improve it both internally and externally. I will work hard to ensure that this continues.”
