By TOM MURPHY, Related Press Well being Author
Pfizer is ending the event of its potential once-daily tablet remedy for weight problems earlier than venturing into the most important and costliest degree of medical testing.
The drugmaker stated Tuesday that it will cease finding out danuglipron after a participant in one in every of its trials skilled a doable drug-induced liver harm that ended as soon as the individual stopped taking the remedy.
The once-daily model of the tablet was in early-stage testing, with researchers attempting to determine the most effective dose for sufferers, a spokeswoman stated. The corporate supposed to maneuver the drug into late-stage testing, which is usually the final part of improvement earlier than an organization submits the potential remedy to authorities regulators for approval.
An organization official stated in a press release that Pfizer nonetheless plans to develop different potential weight problems remedies in earlier levels of testing.
Weight problems remedies have grow to be one of many extra promising and profitable sectors of drug improvement for pharmaceutical firms. Eli Lilly and Co.’s Zepbound, for example, introduced in almost $5 billion in gross sales in 2024, its first full yr in the marketplace.
However main remedies like Zepbound and Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy are injectable. Drugmakers are wanting to develop an easier-to-take tablet model for sufferers who don’t need to take care of needles and day by day injections.
Lilly researchers anticipate to see knowledge this yr from research of a pair potential oral remedies it has developed.
Whereas the medication have grow to be top-sellers, many sufferers have had a tough time getting them both as a consequence of lately concluded shortages or patchy insurance coverage protection. Each Lilly and Novo have lately introduced worth cuts, however the remedies can nonetheless price a whole bunch of {dollars} a month, placing them out of attain for some individuals with out protection.
Pfizer stated in late 2023 that it will abandon a twice-daily model of danuglipron that had adavnced to mid-stage testing after greater than half the sufferers in a medical trial stopped taking it.
An organization spokeswoman stated the choice introduced Monday meant Pfizer would additionally cease testing danuglipron together with different medication to deal with weight problems.
Shares of New York-based Pfizer Inc. superior 12 cents to $22.03 in morning buying and selling Monday.
Initially Printed: April 14, 2025 at 11:02 AM EDT
