March 16 (Reuters) – Structure Therapeutics’ oral obesity drug aleniglipron delivered up to 16.3% weight loss when compared with a placebo after 44 weeks of treatment in a mid-stage study, it said on Monday.
Shares of the company were up 9% in premarket trade.
Drug developers are racing to enter the highly competitive and booming weight-loss drug market dominated by injectable drugs like Novo’s Wegovy and Eli Lilly’s Zepbound.
But momentum is now shifting toward oral treatments that are easier to produce and could boost adherence, especially among patients who prefer to avoid needles.
Analysts previously estimated that weight loss of up to 16% would make Structure’s aleniglipron competitive with other pills.
The company was testing 120 mg, 180 mg and 240 mg doses in the trial. The highest weight loss was seen with the 180 mg dose.
The 44-week data demonstrated the ability to reach best-in-class weight loss regardless of dose, with no clear sign of plateau, said Guggenheim analyst Seamus Fernandez.
At 36 weeks with a 240 mg dose, the drug had shown weight loss of up to 15.3%.
Analysts were also looking for limited discontinuations and lower vomiting rates to prove that the 180 and 240 mg doses are potentially viable treatment options.
“Most critical was the extended tolerability now through median 20 weeks of treatment that appears highly competitive on vomiting and discontinuations while maintaining strong and consistent weight loss,” Fernandez said.
Interim data from another study shows fewer discontinuations when patients begin treatment at a 2.5 mg starting dose, Structure said.
In this study, patients receiving the lower 120 mg dose experienced 16.2% weight loss at 56 weeks.
Structure has the most advanced weight-loss drug pipeline after Eli Lilly, Jefferies analyst Roger Song said ahead of the data read-out.
(Reporting by Sahil Pandey ,Puyaan Singh and Sriparna Roy in Bengaluru; Editing by Sahal Muhammed)
