Pfizer's $2bn+ obesity bet, and other weight-loss news

It has been a busy week for news in the superheated obesity category, headlined by news that Pfizer has licensed a therapy from a subsidiary of China's Fosun Pharma, in a deal that includes $150 million in upfront payments.

The deal focuses on a weight-loss pill in development at YaoPharma, a GLP-1 agonist codenamed YP05002, which is currently in phase 1 testing in China and will also be tested in combination with Pfizer's PF-07976016, an oral GIP analogue.

It is the second bolt-on deal for Pfizer in the weight-loss category in the last few months, coming after it acquired Metsera for $4.9 billion after a bidding war – and after its internal efforts to develop two oral GLP-1 agonists, lotiglipron and danuglipron, were scuppered by toxicity issues.

The terms of the YP05002 deal include development, regulatory, and commercial milestones that could bring the total potential payment to $1.935 billion.

Analysts have said the molecule is based on a different structure to danuglipron, and is closer to that of Eli Lilly's orforglipron, which is expected to be filed for approval shortly and is chasing after Novo Nordisk's already filed oral formulation of Wegovy (semaglutide).

The addition of YP05002 takes Pfizer's weight-loss pipeline to six candidates, which also includes two long-acting injectables – GLP-1 agonist MET-097i and amylin analogue MET-233i – and two oral GLP-1 drugs, all from the Metsera acquisition.

Also this week

Zealand Pharma has said it plans to have launched five drugs for metabolic diseases, including obesity, by 2030, with multiple clinical readouts due next year. Those will feature phase 2 data with Roche-partnered injectable amylin analogue petrelintide in the first quarter and various phase 3 results with Boehringer Ingelheim-partnered GLP-1/glucagon agonist survodutide.

Structure Therapeutics' efforts to develop an oral GLP-1 agonist are focusing on aleniglipron, and were rewarded this week by results from the phase 2b ACCESS II study, which revealed weight loss of up to 15.3% at 36 weeks. The data suggests aleniglipron could offer efficacy similar to that seen with orforglipron and oral Wegovy, and Structure is now moving ahead at pace with plans for a phase 3 programme.

Another oral GLP-1 developer, Ascletis Pharma, said its ASC30 candidate achieved a weight loss of 7.7% after 13 weeks in a phase 2 trial, with what appears to be a reduced tendency to cause gastrointestinal side effects – particularly vomiting – compared to orforglipron and a low rate of treatment discontinuations. The company said it plans to ask for an end-of-phase 2 meeting with the FDA in the first quarter of 2026.

Wave Life Sciences reported results from the phase 1 INLIGHT trial of WVE-007, revealing that a single subcutaneous dose of the oligonucleotide-based gene-silencing drug – designed to switch off the activity of the inhibin beta E (INHBE) gene – achieved fat loss similar to that seen with GLP-1 drugs, as well as an increase in lean muscle mass. Planning is now underway for phase 2 trials evaluating WVE-007 both as a monotherapy and an add-on therapy to current weight-loss drugs.

Boehringer Ingelheim said this week it will move its potential first-in-class triple agonist BI 3034701, developed in partnership with Danish biotech Gubra, into phase 2 testing after seeing encouraging safety data and preliminary efficacy signals in phase 1. So far, the company has not revealed which receptors are targeted by the peptide drug.

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