After dropping so-so early-stage results on its dual GLP-1/GLP-2 agonist earlier this year, fierce competition in the obesity treatment scene has persuaded Zealand Pharma to aim its development engine elsewhere.
Zealand is pausing development on the candidate, known as dapiglutide, as it strives to focus its time and money on “programs with the greatest potential for clinical differentiation and long-term value creation,” the company said in a Nov. 13 earnings announcement.
The asset, which was still visible on Zealand’s virtual pipeline as of Thursday morning, was in phase 1 development to treat obesity-related comorbidities driven by low-grade inflammation.
Dapiglutide was tied to an average weight reduction of 11.6% in results from a phase 1b trial earlier this year, with the company noting in June that it expected to kick off a phase 2 study of the candidate in the second half of 2025.
The 11.6% average weight loss seen among dapiglutide patients in Zealand’s phase 1b fell just shy of the 12%-plus bar Jefferies analysts had said would be encouraging. Analysts at William Blair had a slightly different take at the time, however, noting that the second tranche of data from Zealand’s study may have underrepresented the asset’s weight loss potential given that more than 90% of the participants in the trial were male, whereas women tend to experience a greater degree of weight loss.
Zealand elected to cut the cord on dapiglutide on the heels of a “disciplined portfolio review” to focus its obesity portfolio investments “on programs with the greatest potential for clinical differentiation” and those with the best odds of benefiting the long-term health of patients who are overweight or have obesity or related conditions, Zealand’s chief medical officer, David Kendall, M.D., said of the decision on an analyst call Thursday.
“Although dapiglutide has demonstrated the potential for a competitive weight loss profile based on the results of clinical trials completed to date, the GLP-1-based therapeutic space has become increasingly crowded, requiring even greater and clinically meaningful differentiation for assets which would be launched in the 2030s and beyond,” Kendall explained.
There is a case to be made for GLP-1/GLP-2 dual agonism to modulate low-grade inflammation over a GLP-1 alone, as Zealand was attempting to show with dapiglutide, the CMO stressed. However, the clinical requirements needed to set Zealand’s asset apart in a dedicated obesity-related comorbidity would be “long, complex and expensive,” Kendall admitted.
Besides, Zealand still has plenty of metabolic powder to burn in its pipeline, Kendall pointed out.
He spotlighted the company’s remaining “significant opportunities in both the amylin and incretin-based therapeutic space,” singling out Zealand assets like the Roche-partnered amylin analogue petrelintide, as well as Zealand’s experimental glucagon/GLP-1 receptor dual agonist survodutide, which is in development with Boehringer Ingelheim.
Both assets are being put through the clinical wringer in obesity, with survodutide in phase 3 testing and petrelintide in phase 2.
Meanwhile, Kendall also played up Zealand’s “early-stage pipeline that includes novel mechanisms targeting obesity and inflammation,” reiterating the biotech’s “ultimate goal of restoring and maintaining metabolic health.”
As Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly have affirmed the commercial thesis for GLP-1 drugs in weight loss and other related conditions, an obesity development blitz has kicked off, sweeping up smaller biotechs and major branded drugmakers alike.
Still, with so many efforts playing out at once, the bar to stand out has continued to rise, leading several prominent players to rethink or diversify their efforts in recent months.
Switzerland’s Roche in September laid out ambitions to rank as a “top three” obesity drugmaker, leveraging assets picked up from its $2.7 billion purchase of Carmot Therapeutics in late 2023. As part of its grand strategy, Roche also chipped in $1.6 billion upfront to codevelop Zealand’s aforementioned petrelintide in March.
Notably, Pfizer last week locked in a deal worth upward of $10 billion to acquire obesity biotech Metsera after a bidding war with Novo Nordisk. The acquisition comes after Pfizer had in August cleaned out the last of its experimental GLP-1 agonists, leaving the New York drug giant’s cupboard of potential obesity treatments largely bare.
The highlight of Metsera’s pipeline is MET-097i, an injectable GLP-1 asset in phase 2b testing that could be dosed just once a month.