Ozempic maker unveils new weight reduction tablet TWICE nearly as good as its jab

A brand new weight-loss tablet made by the maker of Ozempic sheds weight twice as quick because the blockbuster injections, the corporate introduced.

In a trial of the brand new drug, sufferers misplaced 13 p.c of their physique weight over 12 weeks – in comparison with the 6 p.c that Wegovy achieved over the identical time interval.

The outcomes propelled Novo Nordisk to the rating of twelfth most precious firm with a valuation of $566 billion, surpassing that of Tesla and Visa. 

The Danish drug maker, together with Eli Lilly, run what is basically a duopoly on the weight problems medication market, and each have struggled to fulfill hovering demand for his or her extremely efficient month-to-month eating regimen pictures. 

The weight problems tablet led to extra weight reduction in the identical 12 weeks span as the corporate’s groundbreaking injectable Wegovy

Novo Nordisk shares climbed 8 p.c on Thursday in Copenhagen, hitting a report excessive after revealing early leads to a research for an weight problems medication in tablet kind

Company shares surged greater than eight p.c in Copenhagen, and its complete worth now exceeds all the annual output of Denmark. 

The drug trial, which is ongoing and anticipated to provide a fuller image subsequent 12 months, was welcome information to buyers wanting to introduce the following iteration of weight problems medication in a format that can possible be extra interesting to sufferers, particularly these with a phobia of needles. 

The drug is just like Wegovy and its sister drug Ozempic, orginally accepted solely to deal with kind 2 diabetes however is now used off label for weight problems. 

It targets the identical GLP-1 hormone, or glucagon-like peptide-1, a hormone within the mind that regulates urge for food and emotions of fullness. In addition, it stimulates one other hormone, amylin, which additionally reduces starvation and slows abdomen emptying. 

The drug additionally seemed to be secure and well-tolerated among the many 16 individuals who took it over three months, and whose common weight firstly of the trial was 196 kilos. 

The pace at which individuals shed kilos on amyretin far outstripped the period of time it took for Wegovy and Ozempic sufferers to lose that quantity in trials, which was 68 weeks. 

Participants within the trial shed greater than 13 p.c of their physique weight in simply three months, a pace that far outpaces the time it takes for Wegovy to work

Meanwhile, Eli Lilly, the maker of Wegovy and Ozempic competitor Zepbound, noticed its firm shares decline two p.c on the New York market open. 

Novo’s shares have risen greater than three-fold since June 2021 when it launched Wegovy within the United States, final 12 months turning into Europe’s most precious listed firm, forward of LVMH. 

The firm, dead-set on proudly owning a large chunk of the weight problems medication market, additionally mentioned it’s going to proceed engaged on one other remedy known as CagriSema.

It’s a mix remedy that accommodates semaglutide to focus on GLP-1, in addition to a drug known as cagrilintide, an analog of the hunger-busting compound amylin. 

The mixture remedy beforehand confirmed 17.1 p.c weight reduction in over simply 20 weeks in a part 1 weight problems trial, in comparison with 9.8 p.c for semaglutide alone.  

Marcus Schindler, Novo’s chief of analysis and early improvement, advised Bloomberg: ‘This is a really aggressive profile.’

The introduction of a extremely efficient each day tablet various to the pictures will possible alleviate the provision chain points and delays in getting the medicines into the fingers of sufferers. 

The firm made an $11 billion deal final month to purchase three factories the place Wegovy and Ozempic will likely be produced. 

The firm additionally introduced it could make investments $8.7 billion final 12 months to increase manufacturing capability for its medication.