Novo Nordisk says trial with next-gen drug in diabetics shows 15.7pc weight loss

LONDON/COPENHAGEN: Novo Nordisk said on Monday its experimental next-generation drug CagriSema helped overweight or obese patients with type 2 diabetes cut their weight by 15.7 per cent after 68 weeks, but shares fell, likely on the lower-than-expected weight loss.

Investors and analysts have awaited the readout of Novo’s REDEFINE 2 late-stage trial to assess whether CagriSema is a more powerful successor to Novo’s blockbuster medicines, Ozempic for diabetes and Wegovy for obesity.

The readout comes after the company revealed results from a separate trial of CagriSema in December in overweight or obese patients without type 2 diabetes that also disappointed the market, wiping as much as $125 billion off its market value.

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Shares were down 5 per cent after Monday’s data release, on track for their worst day since the data release in December. Shares in rival diabetes and obesity drugmaker Eli Lilly were up more than 1 per cent in premarket trading.

The new data released on Monday was based on a trial of about 1,200 people with type 2 diabetes and a body mass index of or above 27 after 68 weeks. Like the REDEFINE 1 trial, REDEFINE 2 was based on a flexible protocol, allowing patients to modify their dosing throughout the trial, Novo Nordisk said in a statement.

After 68 weeks, 61.9 per cent of patients treated with CagriSema were on the highest dose, it added.

If all those in the trial adhered to treatment with CagriSema, patients overall achieved weight loss of 15.7 per cent after 68 weeks, compared to 3.1 per cent with a placebo.

CagriSema is a weekly injection that combines semaglutide, which is the active ingredient in Wegovy and mimics the gut hormone GLP-1, and a separate molecule called cagrilintide that mimics the pancreatic hormone amylin, in a weekly injection.

The two hormones combined suppress hunger and help control patients’ blood glucose.