Novo Nordisk and its Chinese partner have reported up to 19.7% weight loss in patients who took their triple agonist for 24 weeks.
Novo Nordisk shared data on UBT251. United Laboratories sold Novo Nordisk ex-China rights to UBT251, a triple agonist of the receptors for GLP-1, GIP and glucagon, for $200 million upfront last year.
At the time, United Laboratories had linked the candidate to 15% weight loss after 12 weeks of dosing in a phase 1b trial. But right now, the Chinese biotech shared 24-week data from a phase 2 study with investors.
Patients took one of three doses of UBT251 once a week in the trial. From a baseline mean of 92.2 kg, participants in the study lost up to 19.7% of their body weight after 24 weeks. In comparison, subjects on placebo lost 2% of their body weight.
The data compare favourably to the weight loss seen with Eli Lilly’s Zepbound—the market-leading obesity drug.
Participants in a phase 3 study lost up to 20.9% of their body weight on Lilly’s drug, but it took them 72 weeks to shed those pounds.
Weight loss typically continues to deepen beyond the 24-week cutoff for the UBT251 trial, suggesting Novo Nordisk would go past the result achieved by Zepbound in a longer trial.
