Roche obesity drug drives 15.5% weight loss in diabetes trial

Roche ↗ 0.38% announced on Tuesday that its experimental obesity drug enicepatide helped patients with type 2 diabetes achieve an average 15.5% body weight reduction and restored many to non-diabetic blood sugar levels in a mid-stage clinical trial, bolstering the Swiss drugmaker's push into the competitive obesity treatment market.reuters+1

Trial Results

In the 447-patient Phase II study, patients receiving the highest dose of 24 milligrams of enicepatide weekly for 48 weeks saw their HbA1c — a key measure of average blood sugar — drop by 2.65 percentage points from a baseline of 8.1%. Among those with the poorest baseline glycemic control, HbA1c fell by 4.13%. Ninety percent of patients on the top dose reached the diabetes diagnostic threshold of 6.5% HbA1c or below, and 62% achieved normoglycemia, restoring their blood sugar to a non-diabetic range.investing+2

Weight loss had not yet reached a plateau by the end of the study, suggesting the drug could deliver even greater reductions over longer treatment periods, according to Bloomberg. About 2% of patients taking enicepatide discontinued treatment due to side effects, compared with none in the placebo group, with most gastrointestinal side effects rated mild to moderate.roche+2

"We are highly encouraged by the efficacy demonstrated by enicepatide in this Phase II study, including the meaningful proportion of patients reaching normalised glucose levels within less than a year of treatment," said Levi Garraway, Roche's Chief Medical Officer.roche

Competitive Landscape

Roche is racing to challenge Eli Lilly ↗ 0.45% and Novo Nordisk ↘ 2.51%, whose GLP-1-based therapies dominate the obesity drug market, alongside rivals AstraZeneca ↗ 0.16% and Amgen ↗ 4.34%. In June, Roche reported that enicepatide helped patients without diabetes lose up to 22.7% of their body weight in a separate mid-stage trial. Fierce Biotech noted that the HbA1c reductions exceeded the 1.8% achieved by Lilly's Mounjaro in its Phase III trial.el7+4

What's Next

Roche has two Phase III chronic weight management studies already underway and plans to launch late-stage trials focused on glycemic control and cardiovascular outcomes in the first half of 2027.rttnews+1