Weight loss pill could become best-in-class drug | Wilnesh News

Novo Nordisk Chief Executive Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen said on Friday that the company’s experimental weight loss drug doxorubicin may eventually become the best treatment for obesity.

The Danish drugmaker is racing to capitalize on the runaway success of its blockbuster weight-loss drug Wegovy to develop a new generation of obesity treatments, including more convenient and potentially cheaper drugs.

His comments came a day after Novo Nordisk impressed investors with early trial data on doxorubicin. Jørgensen told CNBC’s “Money Movers” that patients taking the pill lost about 13.1% of their weight after 12 weeks.

This exceeds the 6% weight loss experienced by people taking Wegovy after the same time period. It also adds to growing enthusiasm about the potential of weight-loss drugs.

In addition to bringing convenience to patients, the pill could also help alleviate some of the supply constraints that plague weight-loss injections. Wegovy and similar drugs have surged in demand over the past year but have been stuck in intermittent shortages because of their ability to help patients lose significant weight over time.

“We believe that in the future there will be different segments of anti-obesity treatments and different patients will have different preferences,” Jorgensen told CNBC. “Some people will prefer injectables, and we really believe that once we can take Pill, it’s a very convenient product.”

But these drugs won’t hit the market anytime soon. Mid-stage trials of doxorubicin will begin in the second half of this year, with results expected in early 2026, the company said Thursday.

In an interview with Reuters on Friday, Novo Nordisk development chief Martin Holst Lange said the company was interested in being able to emission Doxorubicin for the past ten years.

Myringin suppresses appetite by targeting the same gut hormone that Wegovy mimics, called GLP-1. But amylin also targets a pancreatic hormone called amylin, which affects hunger.

Novo Nordisk’s U.S.-listed shares rose 8.3% after the company reported data on Thursday, extending last year’s 68% gain. But the company’s shares fell 2% on Friday.