Shares for Zealand Pharma rose by over 17% on Friday, after the Danish biotech firm announced positive trial results for petrelintide, a new weight loss drug the company said could compete against Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic and Eli Lilly’s Mounjaro.
The Danish pharmaceutical firm said its new weight loss drug could compare to Ozempic, Wegovy and ... [+]
Zealand said Thursday a 16-week trial of petrelintide reduced body weight by up to 8.6% on average among a study of 48 participants who received weekly injections of the drug, compared to an average body weight decrease of 1.7% for those who received a placebo.
Petrelintide is a long-acting amylin analog, which mimics amylin, a hormone produced alongside insulin in the pancreas in response to digested nutrients, blocking the feeling of hunger.
One participant in the trial withdrew after they experienced nausea and vomiting after taking petrelintide, while no other participants reported vomiting and there were only two reports of diarrhea, which Zealand said were “mild.”
The company said petrelintide was “judged to be safe and well-tolerated at all dose levels,” adding the trial’s results provided “robust support” for the drug’s potential as an alternative to GLP-1 drugs used for weight loss, like Ozempic.
David Kendall, Zealand’s chief medical officer, said in a statement that petrelintide could result in weight loss comparable to GLP-1 drugs “with a better patient experience,” though he did not specify why.
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Zealand said it plans to “rapidly progress” its clinical development of petrelintide, with a mid-stage clinical trial planned for the end of 2024.
Other pharmaceutical and biotech companies have announced plans to join the weight loss drug market, competing against Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly. Zealand is also jointly developing survodutide—an injectable drug mimicking the same GLP-1 hormone as Wegovy and Zepbound—with German drug firm Boehringer Ingelheim. The drug has shown positive results in mid-stage clinical trials for treating obesity and fatty liver disease. Viking Therapeutics said a trial of its experimental weight loss drug VK2735 outperformed Novo Nordisk’s and Eli Lilly’s drugs. Pfizer scrapped plans for two experimental weight loss pills last year because of strong side effects in a mid-stage trial.