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Pfizer On Monday, said that he would end the development of his experimental daily weight loss pill after a patient underwent hepatic lesion which was potentially caused by the medication in a trial.
The patient has felt any symptoms or side effects related to the liver, a spokesperson for Pfizer said in a statement. They added that the patient’s liver enzymes “recovered” quickly “after having stopped taking the pill, which is an oral GLP-1-1 medication called Danuglipron. The declaration suggests that the patient’s hepatic enzymes were high, which often indicates damage to organ cells and is a problem that has been linked to certain other drugs against obesity.
The case occurred in a trial which quickly increased the dose of the pill over a short period, the spokesman said. Pfizer’s decision to stop the development of the drug has occurred after “an examination of all information, including all clinical data generated to date for Danuglipron and recent regulators’ contributions”, according to a press release.
“Although we are disappointed to stop the development of Danuglipron, we remain determined to assess and advance promising programs in order to provide new innovative drugs to patients,” said Dr. Chris Boshoff, scientific director of Pfizer, in the press release. He added that the company is still developing other weight loss drugs.
The announcement adds to a series of setbacks in the company’s offer to win a booming market for GLP-1, which imitate certain intestinal hormones to prevent appetite and regulate blood sugar. Pfizer is one of several manufacturers of drugs that run to bring a more practical weight loss medication to a space dominated by weekly injections, but it is years of competitors such as competitors such as Eli Lilly And Novo Nordisk.
Some Wall Street analysts expect the GLP-1 industry worth more than $ 150 billion in the early 2030s. Oral GLP-1s could reach $ 50 billion in this total, while injections would explain the rest, according to some estimates by the analyst.
Nor is Pfizer’s first withdrawal with Danuglipron either. The company interrupted a version twice a day of the pill in December 2023 after the patients had trouble tolerating the drug in a mid-term study.
But Pfizer seemed to be confident in the form once a day of Danuglipron in July, when he declared that he would begin to carry out studies in the second half to assess several doses of the pill.
Despite his decision to remove the drug, Pfizer said on Monday that these studies had achieved key objectives and confirmed a certain form and dose of the pill with the potential of “competitive efficiency and tole” in advanced stage trials.
The company has also noted that the high liver enzymes rate in people who have taken Danuglipron complies with Approved GLP-1 drugs, which is based on safety database of more than 1,400 patients who took the Pfizer pill.
Pfizer abandoned an obesity pill formerly a different day in June 2023 after patients who took this medicine had higher hepatic enzyme levels in a mid-term trial. Since then, investors have been pessimistic about the potential of the company in the GLP-1 space.
However, Pfizer has other experimental obesity drugs in its pipeline in the first stages of development that seem to work differently from its now discontivized treatments. This includes an oral medication that blocks another intestinal hormone called GIPR, which entered the phase two trials last year, and a formerly daily GLP-1 oral in phase one trials.
Pfizer believes that a drug targeting the GIPR could be more efficient and easier to tolerate for patients, said former scientific director Mikael Dolsten, who has since left the company, told investors in October. He added that “there are so many applications for GLP-1”.
The Danuglipron de Pfizer promotes weight loss by targeting GLP-1, which is also as well as the injection of weight loss of Novo Nordisk Wegovy and the ozempic work of treatment of diabetes. Eli Lilly Zepbound’s weight loss injection and diabetes have shot Mounjaro Target GLP-1, but also activate another intestinal hormone called GIP.
The only GLP-1 oral approved by the Food and Drug Administration so far is Rybelsus de Novo Nordisk, which treats type 2 diabetes and ratified approximately $ 3.38 billion in 2024.
Pfizer’s announcement on Monday comes when the company resumes its footing and recovers its stock market after the rapid drop in its coated activities. Pfizer is betting on its pipeline of cancer drugs to offer long -term growth, but stressed that obesity is a key goal.