(Bloomberg) -- Zealand Pharma A/S said moderate doses of its experimental weight-loss drug helped patients pare pounds with less nausea than some other next-generation contenders in the growing market for obesity drugs.
Only about a third of patients whose doses of Zealand’s petrelintide were capped at 4.8 milligrams experienced nausea in a study, the Danish biotech said Tuesday at the ObesityWeek conference in San Antonio. The group lost an average of 8.6% of their body weight over 16 weeks. Patients on a higher dose of the drug experienced similar weight loss, but with more side effects, Zealand said.
Shares of Zealand rose as much as 7.6% in early trading Wednesday. The stock is up more than 200% in the past 12 months.
A number of drugmakers are getting closer to market with products to compete with Eli Lilly & Co. and Novo Nordisk A/S for sales of lucrative weight-loss therapies. While some companies are looking to develop pills that will be more convenient than available shots, Zealand is betting that patients will choose a formulation with mild side effects.
Petrelintide has “the same degree of weight loss with a much more tolerable profile” than the current generation of GLP-1 drugs made by Lilly and Novo, Zealand Chief Executive Officer Adam Steensberg said in an interview. “The most weight loss isn’t the main need right now.”
After publishing initial results from the closely watched trial in June, Zealand used the conference to present additional data on higher doses and a longer treatment period.
Zealand will start a mid-stage study of petrelintide in adults with obesity later this quarter, Steensberg said. He sees the drug hitting the market in 2029 or 2030 and, in the meantime, is looking to partner with a large pharmaceutical company that can help scale manufacturing.
The opportunity is only relevant for the 10 biggest pharma companies and “there’s strong interest,” Steensberg said.
Unlike GLP-1 medicines such as Novo’s Wegovy and Ozempic, Zealand’s compound targets a gut hormone called amylin. Released by the pancreas together with insulin, amylin is among the most-researched targets for drugmakers seeking to break into the obesity market. Novo’s next-generation obesity drug that’s expected to deliver late-stage trial results by the end of this year, CagriSema, also includes an amylin-based compound.
Zealand will a begin a study next year to explore a similar combination that leans more heavily on the amylin component with “a little GLP-1,” Steensberg said.
“Petrelintide could address unmet needs in obesity,” said Michael Shah, a Bloomberg Intelligence analyst. “The drug could have an early-mover advantage in the less crowded amylin class.”
(Updates with market share move and analyst comment.)
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