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Pfizer US drugmaker ABC said on Thursday it will move forward with a daily version of its weight-loss drug danuglipron after seeing “encouraging” data in an ongoing early-stage trial.
The company evaluated several once-daily formulations of the drug and identified one with the “most favorable profile.” Pfizer said it plans to conduct studies in the second half of the year to determine the optimal dose of the drug.
Pfizer is one of several drugmakers racing to win a share of the market for a hugely popular class of weight-loss and diabetes drugs called GLP-1 agonists, an industry that some analysts predict could be worth about $100 billion by the end of the decade.
The company's shares rose more than 3% in premarket trading on Thursday.
In December, Pfizer stopped production of a twice-daily version of danuglipron after patients struggled to tolerate the drug in a mid-stage study. At the time, the drug giant said data from the first phase of clinical trials on the once-daily version “will provide clarity on the path forward.”
But investors have been pessimistic about the company’s potential in the GLP-1 space since it scrapped a different once-daily pill in June 2023. That was among a series of setbacks Pfizer faced last year in addition to the rapid decline in its Covid business, which weighed on its shares.
However, Pfizer has other experimental drugs in early stages of development, including one to treat obesity. The company has not disclosed how these treatments work.
Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said at a conference in June that the company believes GLP-1s are just “the beginning of what we’re going to see in the obesity space.”
Pfizer's Danuglipron is a GLP-1 that promotes weight loss in the same way. Novo NordiskWegovy injection and diabetes treatment Ozempic. The drugs mimic a hormone produced in the gut called GLP-1, which sends signals to the brain when a person feels full.
Injections from Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly Demand for electric cars has increased dramatically over the past year despite their high prices and limited insurance coverage.
The pair — along with Pfizer and other drug companies — have been racing to develop oral versions that are more convenient for patients to take and easier to manufacture, which could help ease supply shortages in the United States.
Pfizer has not ruled out an acquisition or partnership with a smaller obesity drug maker.
Bourla told reporters at a conference in January that the company was unlikely to buy an obesity treatment at a later stage of development, especially as the company focuses on cutting costs.
But he said Pfizer was looking at potential licensing deals or early-stage weight-loss drugs.
Pfizer’s update on danuglipron comes days after the company said it was looking for a successor to its chief scientific officer, Mikael Dolsten, who is stepping down after more than 15 years at the drugmaker. Dolsten played a crucial role in the development of Pfizer’s Covid vaccine.
