(Reuters) -Shares of weight-loss drug developer Metsera gained as much as 25% on Monday after the company’s experimental drug helped patients lose weight in a small, early-stage trial, showing potential for a monthly dosing regime.
The drug developer, which went public in January, is one of the many that are eyeing the lucrative market of weight-loss drugs that have been dominated by GLP-1 drugs from Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly.
The drug, MET-233i, helped patients lose 8.4% of their weight, when adjusted for placebo, at 36 weeks. The drug belongs to a class of medicines which mimic the pancreatic hormone amylin that is co-secreted with insulin. It is being developed as a standalone treatment, and in combination with the company’s other GLP-1 drug MET-097i.
The two hormones combined suppress hunger, help control patients’ blood glucose.
Metsera’s shares, which touched $35.19 in early trading, were up 5% at midday.
The first wave of obesity drugs was based mainly on the gut hormone GLP-1, but drugmakers are looking for medicines that target other hormones or help preserve muscle while losing fat for their next generation of drugs.
Data from Novo Nordisk’s experimental drug CagriSema, which was touted to be the successor of its blockbuster obesity drug Wegovy, has so far fallen below investor expectations.
Data from Metsera’s 80-patient study showed that its drug has a half life of about 19 days, supporting once-a-month dosing. This compares to the five to seven days for Lilly’s Zepbound and Novo’s Wegovy that are taken weekly, said Evercore ISI analyst Umer Raffat.
The so-called half life of a drug refers to the time it takes for the initial dose of the medicine to decrease by half in a patient’s body. It helps determine how frequently a drug should be taken to achieve benefits.
Drugmaker AstraZeneca is also testing an amylin-based obesity drug in early trials.
(Reporting by Sriparna Roy in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)
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