Structure's obesity pill surpasses expectations in mid-stage study

[June 04, 2024]  By Mariam Sunny

(Reuters) -Structure Therapeutics said on Monday its experimental oral obesity drug helped reduce weight by 6.2% on average in a mid-stage study, exceeding Wall Street expectations and sending its shares up about 32%.

The California-based drug developer is vying for a share of the global obesity treatment market that is estimated to be worth about $150 billion by the early 2030s.

The current market leaders, Novo Nordisk's Wegovy and Eli Lilly's Zepbound, are injectable drugs. The two companies are also developing oral treatments for weight loss.

The Structure drug's 6.2% weight loss, when adjusted for placebo rates, beat expectations of between 5% and 6% at the end of 12 weeks of treatment, at least three analysts said.

Lilly's oral drug orforglipron had shown weight loss of 6% to 7% in the same period, according to Leerink analysts.

The highest dose of Lilly's orforglipron led to 14.7% weight loss after 36 weeks in obese patients, data from a mid-stage trial showed.

J.P. Morgan analysts said they were confident that Structure's oral drug could have a comparable efficacy and safety profile to Lilly's orforglipron over longer or larger trials.

"We think the opportunity for oral GLP-1s is underappreciated and think this market could generate $30 billion in sales by 2035," they said.

In a separate study, the drug's new tablet formulation showed mean weight loss of up to 6.9% at 12 weeks of treatment.

Structure plans to test the tablet formulation of the drug in another 36-week study in 300 participants. The drug developer aims to begin this study in the fourth quarter.

"We recognize that the obesity and metabolic disease market is very large and it will require a strategic partner to help us with late-stage development and commercialization," CEO Raymond Stevens said on a conference call.

(Reporting by Mariam Sunny in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika Syamnath)

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