Roche ramps up obesity-drug competition with early-stage trial results

By Eleanor Laise

Experimental injection's efficacy looks on par with popular drugs from Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk, analysts say

The race to develop powerful new weight-loss drugs grew even more heated on Thursday as Roche Holding AG released early-stage trial results for an experimental obesity treatment.

The once-weekly injection, known as CT-388, produced average weight loss of 18.8% after six months, the Swiss drugmaker said in a release. All patients treated with the drug lost more than 5% of their body weight, the company said, and nearly half lost more than 20%.

The "weight loss results are encouraging," making the Roche drug's efficacy look competitive with treatments already on the market, such as Novo Nordisk's (NVO) Wegovy, as well as other experimental drugs in the pipeline, Jefferies analysts said in a note Thursday. But "there is still a long road ahead," the analysts said, and more data is needed to put the results in context.

Similar to Eli Lilly & Co.'s Zepbound, which received U.S. regulatory approval for treating obesity late last year, Roche's experimental treatment acts on two gut hormones, GLP-1 and GIP.

Roche is developing CT-388 for the treatment of Type 2 diabetes, as well as obesity. In a subgroup of trial participants with pre-diabetes, the drug normalized blood sugar in all patients, the company said.

Some patients had mild to moderate gastrointestinal side effects, Roche said - an issue common among this new class of weight-loss drugs.

More data from the ongoing phase 1 trial of CT-388, focused on patients with obesity and type 2 diabetes, are expected in the second half of this year, Roche said.

Roche's American depositary receipts (RHHBY) gained 3.5% premarket Thursday and have dropped 13.3% in the year to date.

-Eleanor Laise

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05-16-24 0841ET

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