Quick overview

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Pfizer’s new obesity treatment has been approved in China, increasing competition in a market that is about to get even more crowded because of mpending arrival of generics.

 

Pfizer announced via WeChat on Friday that the medication, ecnoglutide, is approved for long-term weight control in adults who are overweight or obese. The local startup Hangzhou Sciwind Bioscience Co. gave the company the rights to the treatment in China. in a late February deal worth $495 million.

Pfizer now joins a market dominated by multinational competitors Eli Lilly and Co. and Novo Nordisk A/S. along with Innovent Biologics, a Chinese pharmaceutical company

The approval coincides with Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy patent expiring later this month, which could lead to less expensive medications.  Novo and Lilly have already drastically reduced the cost of their medications due to the possibility of a price war from generics.

Pfizer, a relative latecomer to the obesity race, is working to increase its market share, including by acquiring Metsera for $10 billion.

Chief Executive Officer Albert Bourla stated that the company wants to participate in the “booming” obesity drug market in China and that purchasing Sciwind’s medication will provide commercial insights that will allow it to compete “in a very aggressive way.”

Similar to Wegovy, Sciwind’s medication imitates the natural hormone GLP-1, which controls hunger and blood sugar.

However, the company thinks that because of its slightly different structure, the medication is safer and more effective than other GLP-1 receptor agonists.

It was previously authorized for the treatment of diabetes. Ecnoglutide produced weight loss comparable to Eli Lilly’s Mounjaro, which targets one more hormone besides GLP-1, in a late-stage study. Patients on ecnoglutide experienced an average weight loss of 15.4 percent after 48 weeks.