STAT+: New data may cast doubt on competitiveness of Boehringer’s obesity drug
Article excerpt
Boehringer Ingelheim released phase 3 data for its obesity drug survodutide, revealing a mixed picture. The medication impressed in one measure, cutting liver fat, but underperformed on the metric that matters most to patients and regulators: overall weight loss. The lukewarm results raise questions about whether the drug can compete in a crowded obesity treatment market already dominated by blockbuster competitors like GLP-1 agonists, which deliver more dramatic weight-loss numbers.
New data on Boehringer Ingelheim’s obesity candidate suggest the drug may be helpful in cutting liver fat, but it’s not clear how competitive the treatment would be since it appears less efficacious and less tolerable than drugs on the market.
In a Phase 3 obesity trial, patients on the highest dose of the weekly injectable, called survodutide, lost 13% of their weight after 76 weeks, compared with 5% in the placebo group, according to data presented Sunday at the annual meeting of the American Diabetes Association and published in the New England Journal of Medicine. That’s lower than the rate of weight loss seen in pivotal trials of Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy and Eli Lilly’s Zepbound.
Patients on survodutide, which targets the GLP-1 and glucagon hormones, did lose up to 63% of their liver fat, compared with 25% in the placebo group. Glucagon-targeting drugs are thought to be particularly helpful in cutting liver fat, since there are glucagon receptors in the liver.
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