Investors’ hunger for obesity drugs is unsatiated. Roche’s share price jumped by 6 per cent this week after the Swiss company announced promising early stage trial data from a potential obesity drug.
This extreme reaction to a phase 1 trial is a sign of investors’ sensitivity to news about the next generation of drugs vying for a slice of the potential $150bn obesity market. Enthusiasm for Denmark’s Zealand Pharma underlines the point. Positive early stage trial results for obesity drug petrelintide in June helped push the company’s value up by a fifth in the days that followed.
Petrelintide does deserve attention. Based on a hormone called amylin, it has a different mechanism to existing weight loss drugs, which mimic the GLP-1 hormone. Whereas the latter suppresses appetite, amylin promotes a feeling of fullness after eating. Greater enjoyment of food, relatively minor side effects and reduced muscle wastage could all be selling points.