Pfizer shares boosted as it advances development of GLP weight loss pill

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) stock started Thursday strongly, and was up a more modest 1% as trading settled down, after the drug maker confirmed it was advancing a once-daily weight-loss pill.

The drug, danuglipron, was previously explored as a twice-daily pill but that program was discontinued due to patient intolerance.

Pfizer now sees more encouraging data from early-trials of its latest formulation. Dose-optimisation studies are now slated for the second half of this year, with results coming next year.

Like Ozempic, Danuglipron is a glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonist, which boosts ‘satiety’ by slowing down digestion  – which means that it promotes weight loss by improving signals to the brain that the person is “full”.

Unlike Ozempic, if successful, Pfizer’s treatment will be an oral pill rather than a weekly injection.

Obesity drugs are forecast to become a $90 billion-a-year market for the pharmaceutical industry in the coming years.

“Obesity is a key therapeutic area for Pfizer, and the company has a robust pipeline of three clinical and several pre-clinical candidates,” Pfizer chief scientific officer Mikael Dolsten said in a statement.

“The most advanced of them, danuglipron, has demonstrated good efficacy in a twice-daily formulation, and we believe a once-daily formulation has the potential to have a competitive profile in the oral GLP-1 space.”

In New York, Pfizer stock was up around 1% changing hands at $28.59.