A view of the logo of Novo Nordisk at the company’s office in Bagsvaerd, on the outskirts of Copenhagen, Denmark, March 8, 2024.
Tom Little | Reuters
Shares of Novo Nordisk jumped Friday after the Danish pharmaceutical giant reported positive early-stage results for its once weekly amycretin obesity drug.
The trial showed that the treatment, which is administered via injection, resulted in average weight reduction of 22% in obese and overweight patients after 36 weeks.
Shares were last up 9.2% at 11:22 a.m. London time.
Amycretin targets the same gut hormone that Wegovy mimics, known as GLP-1, as well as a pancreas hormone called amylin that affects hunger. Wegovy is Novo Nordisk’s flagship obesity drug while Ozempic is its diabetes treatment.
Novo said the most comment adverse effects of amycretin treatment were gastrointestinal, with the vast majority being “mild to moderate in severity.”
“We are very encouraged by the subcutaneous phase 1b/2a results for amycretin in people living with overweight or obesity,” Martin Lange, executive vice president for development at Novo Nordisk, said in a statement.
“The results seen in the trial support the weight lowering potential of this novel unimolecular GLP-1 and amylin receptor agonist, amycretin, that we have previously seen with the oral formulation.”
Novo is also developing an amycretin obesity pill, which in early-stage trials announced in September, led to average weight loss of 13.1% after 12 weeks.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.