Metabolic Disorders

Autolus’s CAR T therapy obe-cel is among the medicines that are this week due for an opinion by the European Medicines Agency on whether they should be marketed in the EU.

MariTide could give Amgen a big boost if successful in obesity, but the drug just entered Phase III. Even so, Q1 revenue rose 9% to $8.15bn and more growth is expected in 2025.

Lilly executives told the company’s Q1 call they were not surprised at the Wegovy deal, but some analysts said it could cut into prescription growth for Zepbound.

Novo Nordisk’s application seeking EU marketing approval to use its GLP-1 receptor agonist to treat cirrhotic metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis is one of 15 new drug filings the European Medicines Agency has started reviewing. Meanwhile, Arrowhead’s filing for its familial chylomicronemia syndrome, plozasiran, is being fast tracked.

As GLP-1 agonists surge to blockbuster status transforming diabetes and obesity treatment, Richard DiMarchi, the pioneering scientist behind their development, recounts the inside story of the drug class in a fireside chat.

Biolinq plans to use the proceeds of its new venture funding to support US FDA de novo review, automation engineering and commercialization efforts with partners, CEO Rich Yang told Medtech Insight.

Antag CEO Joerg Moeller talked to In Vivo about the young company’s gilded roots, and how its GIP receptor antagonist asset will differentiate in the crowded obesity market.

The weight management drug, Mysimba, continues to demonstrate a positive benefit-risk balance but the data available are not sufficient to fully determine the cardiovascular safety beyond 12 months. Meanwhile, Currax this month announced the publication of a peer-reviewed study of Mysimba that followed patients for over 4.7 years and found no evidence of excess cardiovascular risk.

The Swiss giant has inked a deal potentially worth $5.30bn with Zealand to access the Danish biotech's long-acting amylin analog petrelintide.

Novo is making Wegovy available through a new direct-to-patient delivery option for individuals paying out of pocket for the obesity drug as the potential end of semaglutide compounding nears.

AbbVie is the latest big pharma to buy into the obesity space, licensing an amylin analog from Gubra for $350m up front, while Novo will pursue cardiometabolic targets with Gensaic’s AI-based platform.

The European Medicines Agency is considering whether apitegromab, brensocatib and diazoxide choline, from Scholar, Insmed and Soleno respectively, are drugs that are of potential major public health interest, particularly from the point of view of therapeutic innovation.