After encountering several setbacks over the past year, Pfizer has announced that it will proceed with the once-daily version of its weight loss pill.
The pharmaceutical giant is back in the testing phase and hopes to produce a version that will be best for future users without causing some unexpected side effects studies showed in 2023.
Pfizer, the Pharmaceutical Company
Pfizer is an American multinational biotechnology and pharmaceutical company founded in 1849 by two German entrepreneurs, Charles Pfizer and his cousin Charles F. Erhart. The duo established the company in New York City, which is still its headquarters.
Today, it is owned by 3 major shareholders and is one of the top pharmaceutical companies in the world. The company is famous for producing some of the world’s best medicines, vaccines, and consumer health products.
The Weight Loss Drug
Danuglipron is a glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) drug that helps to treat obesity by promoting weight loss in its users. Just like ozempic and Novo Nordisk’s injection Wegovy, this drug aims to help its users to lose a lot of weight in a short period.
Pfizer’s danuglipron mimics the action of GLP-1, a single hormone in the gut that sends signals to the brain when a person is full. It makes its users feel less hungry and eat less.
Discontinuing the Drug
The drug was initially marketed as a twice-daily pill for its users last year, but it struggled to break the market. In addition, a mid-stage study showed that many patients had difficulty tolerating the drug.
Therefore, the company had to discontinue the twice-daily drug to prevent any further complications or possible injury. The drug was also not quite popular even though it was being marketed by one of the biggest pharmaceutical companies in the world.
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Liver Safety Issues
Earlier in 2023, the pharmaceutical giant had a different once-daily pill that was also supposed to act as GLP-1 in the gut of its users. However, it encountered a different problem, which led to them stopping the drug as well.
Studies showed that the patients who used the pill had elevated liver enzymes, so they stopped its production in June 2023, hoping that the two-daily version would produce better results and “inform a path forward.”
Continuing Production
Now, Pfizer has announced that it will move forward with a once-daily version of its weight loss pill after there was “encouraging data” in an ongoing recent study.
According to the company, they evaluated and tested many formulas for the drug and picked the one with the best and most “favorable profile” that poses the slightest danger to the body when consumed. Danuglipron will also undergo many more testing forms in the year’s second half.
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Hope for the Future
Outgoing Pfizer Chief Scientific Officer Dr. Mikael Dolsten has expressed hope for the coming months, as the trials’ results are expected in early 2025.
He said, “Danuglipron has demonstrated good efficacy in a twice-daily formulation, and we believe a once-daily formulation has the potential to have a competitive profile in the oral GLP-1 space.” In addition, patients who received this version of the drug did not report liver safety issues.
The Weight Loss Market
The weight loss market is a very competitive space, and many top pharmaceutical companies are looking to take advantage of that. Big companies like Pfizer and Novo Nordisk are in a race to win a big chunk of the market, which mainly consists of people with obesity and diabetes who need the GLP-1 agonists.
According to some analysts, the weight loss industry will be worth roughly $100 billion by the end of 2030.
Setbacks
After facing a significant string of setbacks last year, including the massive decline of its Covid vaccine business that greatly affected its stock, the company is being cautious with its investments.
However, its officials have revealed that danuglipron is not the only drug for obesity that they are currently testing. There are other experimental obesity drugs that are in their early developmental stages and will be revealed at a later time to the public.
A Key Therapeutic Area
Dolsten also noted that obesity is “a key therapeutic area for Pfizer, and the company has a robust pipeline of three clinical and several pre-clinical candidates.” In June this year, CEO Albert Bourla also agreed with this statement, saying that Pfizer and the GLP-1 drugs are just “scratching the surface of what we will see in obesity.”
Therefore, there is a large array of obesity issues that the company can help with as its research continues.
The Oral Version
danuglipron has a GLP-1 component that promotes weight loss in ways similar to ozempic used for diabetes treatment and Novo Nordisk’s injection variant. However, companies like Novo Nordisk, Eli Lilly, and Pfizer have been in the race to produce the best oral version of the drug because the demand skyrocketed in December, even though they are quite expensive.
Since oral versions are easier to produce and ingest, these companies are trying to make that possible very soon.
Pfizer Is Focused on Cutting Costs
However, Bourla noted at a conference in January that Pfizer is focused on cutting costs due to the setbacks that happened in 2023. Its stock went down, and it is unlikely that the company will buy an obesity treatment in its later-stage development phase.
However, if it is more beneficial to the pharmaceutical giant, it could partner with a smaller drug maker or pursue potential licensing deals or earlier-stage weight loss drugs over time.
Dolsten Stepping Down
The update on the state of danuglipron comes days after Pfizer publicly announced that it is searching for a successor to Dolsten. After over 15 years at Pfizer, Dolsten is set to step down from his office to pursue other interests.
He was of great value to the company and played a huge role in the development of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine. Now, he would be succeeded by someone who has to be up to the task and can fill his great shoes.
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