A new drug against obesity developed by Pfizer caused a high rate of side effects during a clinical trial that will therefore not continue, the American pharmaceutical giant announced.
Pfizer He specified, however, that he will work on a modified version of the drug, called danuglipron.
That medicine belongs to a new class of successful treatments that mimic a gastrointestinal hormone (GLP-1) to induce a feeling of satiety and weight loss.
The particularity of danuglipronunlike competitors already on the market, is that it is administered orally through tablets and not by injection.
Although the test in question was based on the pill intake twice a day, Pfizer said it wanted to focus on a new formulation to be taken once a day.
The clinical trial included a few hundred obese participants who did not have type 2 diabetes.
The side effects were similar to those expected for a drug of this type, but “high rates were observed,” with “up to 73% nausea, 47% vomiting, and 25% diarrhea,” he stated. Pfizer.
More than half of the participants who received it discontinued the treatment.
On the other hand, it was shown to cause weight loss of 8% to 13% of body mass at 32 weeks, or 5% to 9.5% at 26 weeks.
”We believe that an improved formulation of danuglipron taken once a day could play an important role in the treatment of obesity“said Mikael Dolsten, senior executive of Pfizer.
The market of anti-obesity medicationsvery lucrative for the pharmaceutical industry, is currently dominated by the Danish group Novo Nordisk (with its Wegovy treatment) and the American Eli Lilly (with Zepbound, approved last month in the United States).
On the New York Stock Exchange, shares of Pfizer They fell 4.3% on Friday, after the announcement.
Source: Gestion
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