Boehringer, Walgreens Partner for Obesity Trial Amid Weight-Loss Drug Race

Boehringer Ingelheim has announced a strategic collaboration with consumer health chain Walgreens to conduct a large-scale Phase III clinical trial targeting obesity and type 2 diabetes. This partnership leverages the accessibility of Walgreens community pharmacies, converting them into clinical trial sites. This innovative approach aims to enhance patient recruitment and make clinical trials more accessible and inclusive.

A significant element of this collaboration involves EmVenio Research, a provider of decentralized trial solutions. By incorporating mobile research units, the collaboration aims to offer patients more convenient participation options. Lennart Jungersten, senior vice president of medicine and regulatory affairs at Boehringer Ingelheim, emphasized the benefits of this community-focused strategy. He remarked that the initiative seeks to make clinical trials more accessible by reaching diverse populations in local communities who have significant health needs.

The specific obesity program involved in this trial has not been named; however, Yahoo! Finance has reported that the trial will focus on survodutide, a dual agonist of GLP-1 and glucagon receptors. This dual-action mechanism could potentially make survodutide more effective than current single-hormone treatments, positioning Boehringer Ingelheim to compete with major players like Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly in the burgeoning weight-loss drug market.

Boehringer Ingelheim is developing survodutide in collaboration with Zealand Pharma, under an agreement established in 2011. This partnership assigns Boehringer Ingelheim the responsibility for all research, development, and commercialization activities related to survodutide, while Zealand Pharma remains eligible for milestones and royalties.

The company launched five Phase III trials in May 2023 to evaluate survodutide as a weight-loss treatment. These studies include SYNCHRONIZE-1, which focuses on overweight and obese participants without type 2 diabetes, and SYNCHRONIZE-2, which targets those with type 2 diabetes. Another trial, SYNCHRONIZE-CVOT, is aimed at overweight and obese patients who have cardiovascular disease, chronic kidney disease, or other cardiovascular risk factors.

In June 2023, Boehringer Ingelheim released Phase II data, revealing that survodutide could potentially reduce body weight by around 20%. The study indicated that weight loss had not yet plateaued, suggesting that longer follow-ups might show even greater efficacy.

By February 2024, the company reported that survodutide could significantly improve metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis, a severe liver condition, without worsening fibrosis. This finding underscores the drug's potential benefits beyond weight loss.

This collaboration and the advancements in survodutide research reflect Boehringer Ingelheim's commitment to addressing the growing prevalence of obesity and type 2 diabetes through innovative and patient-centric approaches. The use of community pharmacies and mobile units is expected to democratize clinical trial participation, making it easier for patients from various backgrounds to contribute to medical research.