Analysts said there's not enough data yet to support efficacy differentiation
AstraZeneca PLC shed GBP15 billion of market capitalization on Tuesday, after investors were underwhelmed by early data from a trial of a weight-loss pill.
The company (UK:AZN) said its lead product candidate AZD5004 achieved weight loss of 5.8% in Type 2 diabetes patients after four weeks with no serious side effects in a Phase 1 trial.
The U.K.-based company released the data at Obesity Week, an event organized by the Obesity Society, taking place in San Antonio, Texas this week. AstraZeneca also released data on its injectable weight-loss drug AZN6234.
Cantor said the data on the oral version was hard to compare to competitors, as participants in the trial were required to fast for 14 hours-10 hours before dosing and four hours after. That led to higher-than-expected placebo response across all efficacy endpoints and makes comparison with other oral versions challenging.
"There is a lot of variability on weight loss across dosing arms with lower doses performing similarly (or even worse!) than placebo," analyst Prakhar Agrawal wrote in a note to clients. "Our conclusion is that for now, there is not enough data to support efficacy differentiation."
JPMorgan analyst James Gordon agreed and said the small patient numbers and short treatment duration, and the fact the drug was tested on diabetic patients and not obese ones, made it hard to compare to others.
AstraZeneca suggested the potential for AZN5004 to achieve greater weight loss in future trials, once tested on obese patients and when used for longer, Gordon wrote in a note to clients. The company is also planning to test higher doses than the 50 mg maximum in the Phase 1 trial, he wrote.
AZM5004 also produced one case of liver enzyme elevation and one QTc prolongation, a condition where the heart-rate corrected Q% interval is longer than normal.
The news comes a day after Viking Therapeutics Inc. released data on its oral weight-loss drug VK2735, showing obese adults taking the highest dosage of 100 mg had an average weight loss of 8.2% from baseline over a four-week period. The 100 mg dose also produced weight loss of up to 6.8% compared with placebo.
That stock soared early in the day before falling back as investors considered the growing competition in the space. Viking's stock (VKTX) was up 3% on Tuesday and has gained more than 250% in the year to date.
AstraZeneca and Viking's injectable and oral treatments use the same mechanism as Novo Nordisk's (DK:NOVO.B) Wegovy and Ozempic and Eli Lilly's (LLY) Mounjaro, mimicking the effects of GLP-1, a gut hormone that can help control blood-sugar levels and reduce appetite. GLP stands for glucagon-like peptide.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.