Novo Nordisk looks east for another obesity therapy

Novo Nordisk has moved to shore up its obesity pipeline in the face of less-than-stellar data with one of its late-stage candidates, paying $200 million upfront to buy rights to a drug from China's United Biotechnology.

The deal – which could be worth up to $2 billion if all objectives are met – gives it rights to United's UBT251 candidate in all global markets except mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan. The drug candidate is a triple agonist – targeting GLP-1, GIP, and glucagon – and is currently in early-stage clinical development for obesity, type 2 diabetes, and other indications.

Novo Nordisk is already making massive revenues from GLP-1 agonist weight-loss drug Wegovy (semaglutide), but is facing strong competition in the market from Eli Lilly's dual GLP-1/GIP agonist Zepbound (tirzepatide).

At the same time, dozens of other drugs stimulating one or more of GLP-1, GIP, glucagon, and other targets like amylin are coming through the industry pipeline and setting up a highly competitive environment for weight-loss therapies in the coming years.

Novo Nordisk already has a fairly well-stocked pipeline of candidates, but one of its near-term hopes – CagriSema, which combines semaglutide with dual amylin and calcitonin receptor agonist cagrilintide – has generated lacklustre weight-loss data in phase 3 trials.

The Danish pharma group has said it intends to press ahead with regulatory filings nonetheless, but the prospect of the drug becoming a strong challenger to Zepbound – which outperformed Wegovy in a head-to-head trial – as well as other emerging therapies has diminished.

It is also developing high-dose versions of Wegovy and its oral semaglutide product Rybelsus, as well as oral and subcutaneous amycretin – which is in phase 1/2 testing – as it seeks to diversify its obesity range.

"Novo Nordisk is dedicated to providing improved treatment options for people living with obesity, type 2 diabetes, and other cardiometabolic diseases," said the company's head of development, Martin Holst Lange.

"The addition of a candidate targeting glucagon, as well as GLP-1 and GIP, will add important optionality to our clinical pipeline, as we look to develop a broad portfolio of differentiated treatment options that cater to the diverse needs of people living with these highly prevalent diseases," he added.

In a phase 1b trial of UBT251 run by United Bio that looked at three dose levels, the drug achieved an average weight loss of around 15%. The Chinese firm recently started a phase 2 trial in obesity and is also testing it for diabetes, metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD), and chronic kidney disease (CKD).