Novo Nordisk hopes to launch experimental obesity drug this decade

By Maggie Fick and Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen

BAGSVAERD, Denmark (Reuters) - Novo Nordisk's head of development on Friday told Reuters he was very comfortable the drugmaker would be able to launch the pill version of its experimental weight loss drug amycretin this decade.

Below are the highlights of interviews with Martin Lange, Chief Executive Lars Fruergaard Jorgensen and head of business development David Moore in Bagsværd, Denmark:

EXPERIMENTAL OBESITY DRUGS AMYCRETIN AND CAGRISEMA

Research head Lange said the drugmaker could launch the pill version of its experimental weight loss drug amycretin this decade.

"I never commit to timelines but I would be very comfortable to say at the very least within this decade," he said.

The Danish drugmaker hopes to develop amycretin in its oral and injectable form simultaneously.

It expects both new experimental obesity drugs cagrisema and amycretin to lead to greater weight loss than its hugely popular Wegovy. They would also likely have similar cardiac benefits as Wegovy.

He hopes to launch them before the patents for semaglutide, Wegovy's active pharmaceutical ingredient (API), expire.

"The current development plan is to finalise Cagrisema in both obesity and diabetes within the next two years, way before the patent expiry in semaglutide.

"We believe it will be difficult for others to scale to the level we are currently scaling for semaglutide, and that basically means that even with the patent expiry, we could still serve a lot of patients with semaglutide, and complement with even more efficacious products like cagrisema and amycretin."

WEGOVY:

CEO Jorgensen said he expects a higher proportion of U.S. patients to stay on the weekly injection for more than one year as supply constraints ease.

"Now we're focusing on really making sure that if you start treatment, you can stay on treatment," he said.

He expects more people to take obesity drugs as prices fall over time while new generations of the medicine will justify higher prices in some segments.

"I expect that over time we'll see a lower price point that will cater for more and more patients getting on treatment," he said.

CATALENT:

David Moore, head of business development, said it was too early to say if its takeover of three factories owned by contract manufacturer Catalent could draw deeper U.S. regulatory review.

"We haven't been given any sort of guidance … whether that will be the case or not," he said when asked if Novo expects a second request from the Federal Trade Commission on the deal.

"At this point, it's still just sort of normal course and preparing for integrations and things like that."

"There's no plans to look at any other acquisitions in supply chains," he said.

"Our plan is to not disrupt anyone's supply chain …. We would never disrupt medicines, making it to patients. And so honouring agreement commitments has always been the foundation part of this.

"If we're able to gain access to these three sites, it's about capitalising on capacity that is idle today and that we could use going forward."

SEMAGLUTIDE COUNTERFEITS

Compounded semaglutide, the API in Wegovy and its diabetes drug Ozempic, in the United States is a "serious health issue", Jorgensen said.

Jorgensen said Novo was collaborating with authorities in several countries to address the counterfeit issue. He said it could come from Asia.

"I'm very sad that (...) you can have API coming from a source, perhaps in Asia, that has never been reviewed by a regulatory agency and is not approved in that country," he said.

(Reporting by Maggie Fick and Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen in Bagsvaerd, Louise Rasmussen and Stine Jacobsen in Copenhagen; Compiled by Josephine Mason, editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)