Investors are focused on Amgen's pipeline of experimental weight-loss drugs, and the company said it expects to have data from the Phase 2 MariTide trial late this year. Amgen also said it is planning "for a comprehensive Phase 3 program across multiple indications," including diabetes.
Novo Nordisk raised its 2024 outlook on Thursday and delivered better-than-expected quarterly profits as the Danish drugmaker races to boost output of its hugely popular weight-loss drug Wegovy and fend off competition from rival Eli Lilly.
The retailer, which offers online access to doctors who can prescribe privately, told Reuters demand for the new obesity drugs was unprecedented and still growing, but that Mounjaro's launch had "significantly alleviated" pressure on supply chains. A survey by the company of more than 500 users of Wegovy or Mounjaro showed that a third had tried to access the medication via the state-funded NHS but found it was either too difficult or took too long.
The drugmaker has six manufacturing sites for the medicines. Lilly said it has broken ground at its $2.5 billion manufacturing site in Germany, and expects its Concord, North Carolina site to begin producing Zepbound and Mounjaro as early as the end of the year.
An update on the health regulator's website earlier this month showed most doses of Lilly's diabetes drug Mounjaro and weight-loss drug Zepbound would be in limited supply through the second quarter of this year due to increased demand.
Approved by the US Food and Drug Administration, semaglutide medications mimic the body’s glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) hormone to help with insulin production and signal the brain to reduce appetite.
Among the eligible patients, 1.9 million people also had diabetes, according to the study, making them already eligible for Medicare coverage of other drugs like Novo's Ozempic, which has the same active ingredient as Wegovy and is approved for diabetes.
The Bengaluru-based company, which derives most of its revenue from foreign markets such as the United States, also aims to first launch generic versions of the weight-loss drugs in other emerging markets such as Brazil, Mexico, and Saudi Arabia.
The treatments work by reducing food cravings and emptying the stomach more slowly. Lilly's trial results add to a growing body of clinical evidence that suggests GLP-1 drugs have medical benefits beyond diabetes and weight loss. Novo's Wegovy was approved by the FDA in March as a treatment for lowering the risk of stroke and heart attack in overweight or obese adults who do not have diabetes.
Given the growing patient base, Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy and Eli Lilly’s Mounjaro generated $9.7 billion globally in 2023, following their 2021 and 2023 launches, respectively. This value represents a 239 per cent increase from the total revenue generated from all obesity drugs in 2022. These products have uncovered and highlighted the viability offered by this market, setting the trend for drug developers to seek approval for their obesity drugs.
The finding comes after the European Medicines Agency (EMA) extended in December its review into the class of weight-loss and diabetes drugs known as GLP-1 receptor agonists, to get more data from drugmakers to further investigate the issue.
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