Novo turns to Hengrui for another oral obesity drug
Novo has agreed to pay up to $2.6 billion for rights to a weight-loss pill, developed by China's Hengrui Pharma, that could be dosed just once a week.
The Danish drugmaker's latest play in the obesity arms race, kicked off with an upfront payment of $300 million, gives it rights to Hengrui's dual GIP and GLP-1 agonist HRS-1596 in all markets outside China, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan.
Novo is already leading the market for oral GLP-1 agonist-based overweight and obesity therapies with its daily Wegovy (semaglutide) pill, which generated more than $840 million in sales in the first half of this year after its debut in the US in January.
According to recent data from IQVIA, the product is outperforming its only rival in the daily oral GLP-1 agonist market, Eli Lilly's Foundayo (orforglipron), around three-fold based on weekly prescription sales in the US.
It's a different story in the injectable category, where Novo's Wegovy product is seeing strong competition from Lilly's dual GIP/GLP-1 agonist Zepbound (tirzepatide), which is now the top-selling product in the US market thanks to head-to-head clinical data showing it is more effective at reducing weight.
A weekly pill like HRS-1596 could help Novo consolidate its lead in oral weight-loss therapies, which are expected to gradually claim market share from the older injectables and – according to some analysts – could account for around half the market by 2030.
Competition from Lilly in obesity and type 2 diabetes has put Novo under considerable pressure to both shore up its R&D pipeline in these areas – and diversify into new treatment categories – as it chases a $23 billion increase in annual revenues by the end of the decade.
"Novo has pioneered the field of oral peptides and as leaders, we continuously look to advance our broad and deep oral pipeline across obesity, diabetes and other cardiometabolic diseases through our strong internal capabilities and leading external innovation," said Martin Holst Lange, the group's R&D chief.
"Hengrui Pharma has a proven track record of discovering and advancing innovative therapies with the patients in the centre, and we are excited to add HRS-1596 to our growing pipeline and to explore its potential to raise the bar for convenience in the field," he added.
The drug is still in preclinical development, although Hengrui has received approval in China to start phase 1 trials for both weight management and type 2 diabetes. Novo said it expects the deal to close in the fourth quarter, subject to regulatory approvals.
Image by Michal Jarmoluk from Pixabay
