London: Novo Nordisk’s Vegovi and Eli Lilly’s Zepbound still leading weight loss drug marketWhich is estimated to be worth around $150 billion by the early 2030s.

But many other drugmakers are also aiming to join the race. The following is a list of publicly listed companies that are targeting the next big blockbuster opportunity:

Novo Nordisk

Novo’s latest candidate, amikretin, helped obese patients lose 13.1 percent of their weight after 12 weeks of treatment. The data is comparable to the roughly 6 percent weight loss after 12 weeks in Wegovie’s trial.

Novo said it plans to begin a mid-stage study for amicerine in the second half of the year, with results expected in early 2026.

In August, Novo Nordisk reported data from a large study that showed Wegovy also had clear cardiovascular benefits. Wegovy, which uses the same active ingredient as Novo’s diabetes drug Ozempic, was approved in 2021.

The drugmaker reported late-stage trial data for a high-dose oral version of its drug in June. SemaglutideIt helped overweight or obese adults lose 15 percent of their body weight, which was in line with recent results for other people. experimental obesity pills,

The company said in February that it would buy three of Catalent’s fill-finish sites — Anagni, Italy; Brussels, Belgium; and Bloomington, Indiana — from Novo Holdings for $11 billion to help expand Wegovia’s production. The sites will be acquired after Novo Holdings completes its Catalent acquisition.

Eli Lilly

Eli Lilly Weight loss therapyZepbound gets green signal from US and UK regulators In November, a powerful new rival paved the way for Novo’s Wegovie.

The company reported $175.8 million in sales of Zepbound in the first few weeks of its launch in December. The drug, known chemically as tirzepatide, has been available since 2022 as Monjaro for type 2 diabetes and is used “off-label” for weight loss.

Lilly said in June that in a mid-stage trial of its next-generation anti-obesity drug, which is given once a week, injection of retatrutideAfter 48 weeks, weight loss was up to 24.2 percent.

Pfizer

Pfizer said in December it was pausing further trials of a twice-daily version of its oral drug weight loss drugDanugliprone.

The decision was made after a mid-stage trial was abandoned due to high rates of side effects such as nausea and vomiting in most patients.

The company said it will instead focus on a once-daily, modified-release version of danugliprone. Data on how this version reacts with the human body is expected next year.

In June, Pfizer canceled development of its once-daily pill because of liver safety concerns.

Roche and Carmot Therapeutics

Roche purchased CT-388 as part of its $2.7 billion acquisition of Carmot Therapeutics. Carmot’s once-weekly injection is similar to Eli Lilly’s Monjaro or Zepbound.

Roche said the newly-acquired drug candidate has completed early-stage trials and is ready to be tested on humans in the second of three trial phases.

Amgen

In November, Amgen’s experimental obesity-prevention drug, AMG133, showed an average weight loss of 14.5 percent after 12 weeks of treatment at the highest monthly dose.

Altimmune

In November, Altimmune said its drug candidate, pemvidutide, helped produce an average weight loss of 15.6 percent and showed sustained weight loss at the end of treatment in a mid-stage trial.

However, patients also experienced nausea and vomiting of mild to moderate severity.

Viking Therapeutics

Viking Therapeutics said in February that its experimental drug, VK2735, helped obese patients lose “significantly” weight in a mid-stage study.

VK2735 helped patients lose an average of 14.7 percent of their weight after 13 weeks of treatment, according to data from the study, which included 176 overweight adults with at least one weight-related comorbidity.

Zealand Pharma

An experimental obesity treatment from Denmark’s Zealand Pharma and Boehringer Ingelheim caused weight loss of up to 14.9 percent in a mid-stage trial in May.

Opko Health

Opko Health has completed mid-stage trials of its obesity drug, pegapamodutide, which it hopes will have fewer side effects.

Structure Therapy

Structure Therapeutics said its experimental oral obesity drug helped patients lose an average of 6.2 percent of weight at the end of 12 weeks in a mid-stage study.

(Reporting by Mariam Sunny, Pratik Jain, Sriparna Roy, Leroy Leo and Sneha SK in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila, Pooja Desai and Maju Samuel)