Greetings from STAT’s London outpost, with reporter Andrew Joseph here filling in for Ed. No particularly exciting flavored coffee to offer you today, but we did have a mulled cider last night that put us right into the festive spirit. Now, though, as ever, it’s back to the grind. Some tidbits below to help you start your day. …
Eli Lilly said its weight loss drug Zepbound led to 47% greater weight reduction than rival medicine Wegovy, made by Novo Nordisk, in a head-to-head randomized controlled trial, STAT reports. The finding will not come as a surprise to scientists or physicians who have closely followed the rise of the blockbuster obesity medicines. It mirrors results seen in the companies’ diabetes drugs, which use the same active ingredients. But documenting the differences between Zepbound and Wegovy in a rigorous way might allow Lilly to make marketing claims about Zepbound’s superior efficacy. That, in turn, could help the company gain market share against Novo.
A trade group for compounding pharmacies slammed an attempt by Novo Nordisk to convince the U.S. Food and Drug Administration that semaglutide — the key ingredient in its diabetes and obesity drugs — should be added to a list of medicines that are too difficult to compound. The Alliance for Pharmacy Compounding argued that, contrary to assertions by the drugmaker, compounded versions of the Wegovy and Ozempic medications do not contain concerning levels of impurities and, therefore, should be considered safe for patients. The trade group also maintained that the FDA has, in fact, previously reviewed generic drug applications from other companies that use a synthetic form of the active ingredient. The compounding group further chided Novo for “disingenuously” insisting that vials with syringes or pre-filled syringes are unreliable and unsafe, when the drug company plans to move toward the same delivery mechanisms instead of injection pens. Finally, the trade group suggested Novo was making an “opportunistic attempt to stifle what it improperly perceives to be competition” from compounders.
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