Roche Is Stepping Up To Join The Billion-Dollar Battle In Weight Loss Drug

Roche plans to accelerate the development of its anti-obesity drugs, aiming to challenge the current two juggernaut of weight loss drugs in the booming market—Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk.

The Swiss pharmaceutical company's CEO, Thomas Schinecker, recently stated that Roche's first weight loss drugs will hit the market significantly faster than people expect, potentially by 2028.

The company acquired biotech firm Carmot for up to $3.1 billion last year and obtained about seven drugs from the acquisition, several of which are in the early stages of development.

Roche has only disclosed details of three of these drugs, including the dual GLP-1/GIP receptor agonist CT-388, the oral small molecule GLP-1 receptor agonist CT-996, and the dual GLP-1/GIP receptor agonist CT-868.

Earlier this month, Roche released early trial data for CT-996, which has been well-received by the market for the company's weight loss drug prospects. The trial data showed that obese patients lost an average of 6.1% of their body weight after taking the CT-996 pill for four weeks.

This data has driven the company's stock price to rise by 6% on the day of release. In addition, the stock prices of Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly have also been affected, as the market is concerned that Roche may challenge their dominant position in the industry.

Barclays analyst Emily Field said it is still too early to determine whether Roche can break the leading advantage of Novo and Eli Lilly.

She pointed out, If you look at what's disclosed, it's better than pretty much everything at four weeks. But there's a lot we don't know.

Goldman Sachs analysts predict that by 2030, the obesity market will exceed $130 billion, and several companies are seeking to launch their drugs. In addition to Novo Nordisk's Wegovy and Eli Lilly's Mounjaro, Roche is trying to catch up, and other pharmaceutical manufacturers such as Boehringer Ingelheim and Pfizer also hope to launch drugs.

The stock price of the U.S. biotech company Viking Therapeutics rose by 30% last Thursday (July 25), as the company had earlier stated that it would advance a weight loss drug to the later stages of trials.