It seems like some good news is overdue for Novo Nordisk. So the topline report of a phase two study with amycretin that looks like a plausible win is especially welcome.
The results at hand come from a 36-week placebo controlled study with a wide range of oral and injection doses in persons with type 2 diabetes and obesity. At the highest injection dose, patients lost 14.5% of their starting body weight. With the oral formulation, weight loss at the highest dose amounted to 10.1% of starting weight.
Outcomes for glycemic control in diabetes were also positive. From a baseline HbA1c of 7.8%, 89% of patients at the highest dose reached a value of less than 7.0% and 76% reached a value less than 6.5%.
Best in Class?
Novo’s chief scientific officer, Martin Holst Lange, was cautiously optimistic about the implications of these results:
“This is the first time amycretin is tested in a type 2 diabetes population. This could represent a breakthrough for people living with type 2 diabetes, obesity and related comorbidities.
“The data further validate the potential best-in-class profile of amycretin.”
Of course, these are early-stage data for amycretin and the full profile will not be understood until after phase three trials are complete. Those will start in 2026. And we will be quite eager to see the full publication of the data announced yesterday.
Amycretin is unique because it has a dual mode of action that targets both GLP-1 and amylin receptors with a single drug. Novo has tried to do the same thing with a fixed combination of cagrilintide (targeting amylin) and semaglutide (targeting GLP-1). With CagriSema, after 68 weeks of therapy in persons with type 2 diabetes and obesity, people lost 13.7% of their starting weight.
Comparisons across trials can be misleading. But since people were still losing weight in the trial with amycretin at 36 weeks, it could be that longer term outcomes will turn out to be more impressive than with CagriSema.
A Boost
Yes, it’s early days for amycretin and things could easily go sideways in phase three studies. But Novo Nordisk is getting a much needed boost from this news. Just two days ago, the company’s stock price tumbled 5.6% when the semaglutide studies in Alzheimer’s disease showed no benefit. The amycretin news reversed much, but not all, of that loss.
Right now, the ride is a bit bumpy for this innovator in obesity and diabetes.
Click here, here, here, and here for further perspective.
Quadrille, Les Pompiers de France, illustration by Alfred Concanen / WikiArt
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