AstraZeneca's Different Thinking On Weight Management Behind Eccogene Deal

'Holistic' Approach Led To Alliance

Sharon Barr, AstraZeneca’s executive vice president, biopharmaceuticals R&D, in an interview with Scrip, outlines how the company is using a holistic approach to define a new competitive landscape in the weight loss sector. She also sees new frontiers for the firm and its potential partners both in China and beyond to jointly explore aimed at maintaining healthy muscle mass while decreasing body fat.

pillars — One pillar of AstraZeneca's weight management portfolio originates in China • Source: Shutterstock

When AstraZeneca PLC scooped up an oral small molecule GLP-1 agonist from the Chinese firm Eccogene (Shanghai) Co., Ltd in November 2023, a sense of euphoria in China’s biotech sector marked the first major deal for an incretin-based therapy between a major multinational and a Chinese bioventure.

Key Takeaways

For the treatment of overweight with comorbidity or obesity with GLP-1s, AstraZeneca is looking “beyond short-term weight loss targets, but in terms of better health outcomes."

Since then, other Chinese developers have joined global players to swell the ranks of GLP-1 candidates, but they have yet...