Zealand's amylin obesity drug shows promise

Zealand Pharma announced promising results from an early clinical trial of their long-acting amylin analogue, petrelintide, which is being developed as a potential obesity treatment. This marks Zealand's third pipeline project aimed at tackling obesity. The Phase Ib study highlighted notable weight loss and a favorable tolerability profile for petrelintide, addressing some of the issues faced by Zealand's most advanced program, survodutide. The new data suggest petrelintide could emerge as a viable alternative to the currently dominant GLP-1 agonists in obesity management.

In the high-dose group of the trial, participants experienced an average body weight reduction of 8.6% from baseline, compared to a 1.7% decrease observed in the placebo group. The study involved 48 participants with a median baseline Body Mass Index (BMI) of 29 kg/m². These participants were divided into three dose cohorts and received weekly subcutaneous injections of petrelintide over a period of 16 weeks.

Jefferies analysts had previously indicated that they expected petrelintide to achieve weight loss in the range of 7% to 9%. David Kendall, the Chief Medical Officer of Zealand Pharma, described the results as "exciting and compelling," affirming that petrelintide is well-tolerated and holds potential as an alternative to incretin-based therapies for managing overweight and obesity.

The safety profile of petrelintide appeared encouraging, with no serious or severe adverse events occurring during the trial. Gastrointestinal side effects, which are often a concern with weight loss medications, were generally mild. There were two moderate cases of nausea and vomiting reported in one participant, who subsequently discontinued treatment. No other participants reported vomiting, and no further dropouts were recorded. The incidence of nausea ranged from 16.7% to 33.3% in the active treatment groups, compared to 16.7% in the placebo group.

These findings come at a time when Zealand Pharma is navigating a highly competitive obesity treatment market. The positive data for petrelintide stand in contrast to the mixed results recently reported for another Zealand obesity candidate, dapiglutide, which is a GLP-1/GLP-2 receptor agonist. In the DREAM trial, low doses of dapiglutide led to modest weight loss of 2.9% and 4.3% at week 12, failing to achieve statistical significance compared to placebo. Zealand Pharma suggested that dapiglutide may offer a safety advantage and plans to test higher doses in future studies.

Despite concerns about tolerability, Zealand has advanced their glucagon/GLP-1 receptor agonist, survodutide, into a Phase III trial as of last August. The company continues to push forward with its obesity treatment pipeline.

Looking ahead, Zealand Pharma plans to initiate a Phase IIb clinical trial for petrelintide in the latter half of 2024. These developments underscore the company's commitment to offering new and effective treatments for obesity, potentially broadening the options available to patients and healthcare providers in a field that is in dire need of innovation.