The "Jia Ling Effect" triggered by a Spring Festival movie has attracted more attention to the already booming weight loss drug market. In the past year, driven by the demand for weight loss drugs, the stock prices of Novo Nordisk and Lilly have surged. Lilly's stock price has risen nearly 140% in the past year, and Novo Nordisk's stock price has also risen nearly 80%.
As of February 20th, Lilly's market value has reached $742.4 billion, more than $100 billion higher than Tesla's market value of $636.8 billion. Novo Nordisk's market value is also close to $420 billion, making it the second largest European luxury goods giant LVMH in terms of market value. Market insiders predict that if the demand for weight loss drugs continues, Lilly and Novo Nordisk are expected to become the first pharmaceutical companies with a market value exceeding trillions of dollars.
Lilly and Novo Nordisk have both developed a drug called GLP-1, which is the first drug to treat diabetes. It has not only been proved to be effective for weight loss, but also in the latest research, it has shown that it can benefit many diseases such as heart and kidney, and even is expected to prevent Alzheimer's.
Since the beginning of this year, the "gold rush" in the weight loss drug market has continued. The drugs under development need to demonstrate better efficacy, lower treatment frequency, or other advantages than existing drugs in order to gain market favor.
Low frequency medication to maintain weight
The latest competitor comes from Anjin, which claims to have adopted a different research and development approach from existing GLP-1 drugs, with the goal of losing weight faster, reducing medication frequency, and possibly better maintaining weight.
Recent animal and early human trial data released by Anjin shows that the company's experimental drug MariTide can promote weight loss and improve metabolic markers, with acceptable safety. In a small Phase I clinical trial, the highest test dose was able to reduce weight by 14.5% within 12 weeks. Anjin stated that the mid-term research results are expected to be released later this year.
The frequency of medication for weight loss drugs that have been approved for marketing is once a week. Anjin stated that the company's second phase plan is exploring several injection dosage options, including monthly injections and lower frequency injections.
Other promising companies include Boehringer Ingelheim, which is collaborating with Danish biotech company Zealand Pharma to develop a weight loss drug. In a mid-term clinical trial, overweight or obese patients lost 19% of their weight after 46 weeks of drug treatment. In the third stage of the experiment, the company's goal was to lose 20% to 25% of weight.
French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi and German Bayer have also expressed interest in entering the field of weight loss drugs. Bayer said it may choose to collaborate with other companies to develop such drugs.
Lose fat and increase muscle mass
On the other hand, a major challenge currently faced by weight loss drugs is that while losing weight, they also reduce muscle mass, which is something people do not want to see. According to the previous STEP 1 clinical trial of Smegglutide, 140 patients underwent body composition analysis. Among these patients, the muscle loss accounted for 39% of the total weight loss.
To this end, companies are working hard to develop new mechanisms of drug action, hoping to achieve weight loss goals while keeping as much muscle in the body as possible to improve weight loss quality. That is to say, the future weight loss drug market will focus more on sustained weight management.
Some companies have already explored and laid out in this area. Last July, Lilly acquired a company called Versanis, which is developing a new generation of weight loss drug called Bimagrumab that promotes fat metabolism while also increasing muscle mass.
Last November, Lilly collaborated with biotech startup BioAge Labs to launch a phase II clinical trial, exploring the effects of a weight loss drug called BGE-105 in combination with Lilly's tirzepatide, with the aim of achieving weight loss and muscle gain.
It is reported that BGE-105 is an Epathione receptor agonist. Epatonin is a peptide that stimulates secretion through exercise, regulating metabolism and promoting muscle regeneration through interactions with skeletal muscles, heart, and central nervous system. According to the results of the company's Phase I clinical trial, BGE-105 can significantly prevent muscle atrophy and maintain muscle protein synthesis in healthy elderly people aged 65 and above who require strict bed rest.
It is worth noting that BioAge recently announced the completion of a new round of $170 million D-round financing, with top pharmaceutical companies such as Anjin participating.
Regenerative Yuan Company has also reiterated its plan to enter the weight loss drug market in 2024, hoping to improve the quality of weight loss for patients by adding a combination of trevogrumab and garretosmab to smeglutide.
Scientific weight loss to prevent "violent weight loss"
In China, the competition on the GLP-1 track is also becoming fierce, but currently there are no new drugs approved for weight loss indications. On January 26, Novo Nordisk Megglutide Tablets (trade name: "Novo Xin") was approved by the National Drug Administration (NMPA) for marketing to treat type 2 diabetes. This is the first oral GLP-1 receptor agonist approved for marketing in China. However, it should be emphasized that this drug is not intended for weight loss treatment, and relevant clinical trials for weight loss indications are still ongoing.
Experts remind that weight loss still needs to be moderate and reasonable, and not blindly take weight loss pills. It is necessary to take medication according to the doctor's guidance and advice.
Liu Peng, director of the Clinical Nutrition Department at Peking University People's Hospital, recently analyzed to the media that professional weight loss guidelines and expert consensus have certain requirements for weight loss. For people with a small weight base, weight loss generally does not exceed 2 to 4 kilograms per month, and for people with a large weight base, it can be relaxed to 5 kilograms. If you want to achieve "Jia Ling style" weight loss, you should also gradually and evenly reduce it. Therefore, the total amount of 100 pounds is still within a reasonable range.
Liu Peng also reminded that blindly pursuing "rapid weight loss" in the short term, also known as "excessive weight loss", can easily bring potential health risks, such as malnutrition and metabolic imbalance. Women may experience irregular menstruation, hair loss, anemia, as well as short-term decline in immunity leading to bacterial and viral infections, rapid increase in uric acid levels leading to gout attacks, and other problems.