Novo says CagriSema tops Lilly rival in diabetes patients for weight loss

Sept 21 — Novo Nordisk said on Monday its ​next-generation experimental drug, CagriSema, delivered an estimated average weight loss of 12.4% ‌in a late-stage trial in patients with diabetes, outperforming ⁠Eli Lilly's rival ​drug.

It has been ⁠seen as a successor to Novo's ‌weight loss drug, ‌Wegovy, which faces patent expiries after ⁠2030.

CagriSema is a ⁠weekly injection combining cagrilintide, which mimics pancreatic hormone amylin, and semaglutide, the active ingredient in Wegovy. Novo said the drug also demonstrated non-inferior blood sugar ‌reduction compared to Lilly's ​tirzepatide.

In a head-to-head trial earlier this year, the drug had fallen short of Lilly's Zepbound on weight loss, marking a setback for the Danish drugmaker.

In the late-stage study, a 1 mg dose ​of Novo's drug CagriSema was superior ‌to Lilly's ‌tirzepatide ⁠at 5 mg for weight loss, the company said on Monday.

Lilly's tirzepatide, which is the active ingredient in its diabetes ‌drug Mounjaro and obesity ​drug Zepbound, showed ‌weight loss of ⁠9.1%.

(Reporting ​by Sriparna Roy in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini ​Ganguli)

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