Novo on Tuesday said its next-generation obesity drug, CagriSema, showed 25% weight loss on average among adult women in a new analysis conducted after a late-stage trial.
The Danish company said further work is needed to confirm the hypotheses of two post-study analyses. Still, the results are the latest evidence that the experimental injection can improve upon the weight loss and other benefits offered by Novo's GLP-1 drug semaglutide, the active ingredient in its blockbuster obesity shot Wegovy and diabetes counterpart Ozempic.
CagriSema, a combination of semaglutide and another drug called cagrilintide that targets the amylin pathway, is expected to launch early next year. Obesity drug leaders Novo and Eli Lilly have built new treatments around amylin, which involves a hormone released in the pancreas alongside insulin that helps regulate hunger and fullness, hoping it will give them a new revenue stream beyond existing GLP-1s.
In an analysis of roughly 2,300 women with obesity or who are overweight, CagriSema caused 25% weight loss on average at 68 weeks compared with 3% with placebo. The results are based on an ideal scenario in which all patients stayed on treatment without interruptions.
A second analysis of around 1,900 women assigned by their menopausal status found that weight loss reached 26.7%, 24.8%, and 23.1% in premenopausal, perimenopausal and postmenopausal women, respectively, at 68 weeks, if all patients remained on the drug. That compares with approximately 2% across menopause groups with a placebo.