Pfizer on Thursday announced plans to move forward with a daily oral weight-loss medication in the same drug category as treatments like Ozempic and Zepbound.
The pharmaceutical giant said clinical evaluation of once-daily doses of its oral GLP-1 agonist candidate danuglipron demonstrated “encouraging” data. Dose optimization studies are planned.
Pfizer was studying a twice-daily version of danuglipron last year, but decided not to move forward with the iteration due to side effects among trial participants, such as nausea and vomiting.
“Obesity is a key therapeutic area for Pfizer, and the company has a robust pipeline of three clinical and several preclinical candidates. The most advanced of these, danuglipron, has demonstrated good efficacy in a twice-daily formulation, and we believe that a once-daily formulation has the potential to have a competitive profile in the oral space to GLP-1,” said Mikael Dolsten, Chief Scientific Officer. from Pfizer. official, said in a statement.
Like other GLP-1 medications, danuglipron is supposed to work by stimulating increased insulin secretion and maintaining healthy blood sugar levels. The most well-known GLP-1 medications, including Wegovy and Mounjaro, are injected subcutaneously weekly.
Oral GLP-1 medications have been available since 2019. The Food and Drug Administration has approved Rybelsus, a once-daily oral form of semaglutide, for the treatment of type 2 diabetes along with diet and exercise.
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