Novo Nordisk, Eli Lilly shares slide on Roche’s obesity drug trial

Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly shares slid Wednesday after Roche announced promising early-stage trial data from its latest obesity drug candidate.

The Swiss pharmaceutical giant said Wednesday that a second drug candidate from its purchase of Carmot Therapeutics indicated positive results, further heating up competition in the weight loss drug market.

Roche shares jumped in early deals and were trading 5.87% higher as of 11:17 a.m. London time.

Shares of Wegovy-maker Novo Nordisk fell 3.77%, while Zepbound producer Eli Lilly was around 2.7% lower in premarket trading.

Shares of Danish biotech company Zealand Pharma, which is also developing its own obesity treatment, were also down more than 5.6%.

Roche said its experimental once-daily pill CT-996 resulted in a placebo-adjusted average weight loss of 6.1% within four weeks in obese patients without Type 2 diabetes in a Phase I trial.

“We are pleased to see the clinically meaningful weight loss in people treated with our oral GLP-1 therapy CT-996, which could eventually help patients address both chronic weight management and glycemic control indications,” Roche’s chief medical officer, Levi Garraway, said in the Wednesday statement.

The results come as competition mounts in the fast-growing weight loss drug sector, with Roche’s oral pill likely to provide an appealing alternative for patients who dislike injections.

Roche completed its acquisition of anti-obesity drug developer Carmot Therapeutics in January, and in May the firm released promising early-stage data for another one of its weight loss drug candidates, CT-388.

However, Roche Pharmaceuticals CEO Teresa Graham told CNBC in December that it may be several years before the oral obesity treatments are widely available.