AbbVie plans to build out its presence in obesity market

By Christy Santhosh

Jan 14 (Reuters) – AbbVie said on Wednesday it is seeking to expand its presence in the fast-growing market for obesity treatments, leaning on the weight-loss drug it licensed last year from Danish biotech Gubra.

Gubra’s drug, GUBamy, mimics the hormone amylin and could be used as an alternative to popular GLP-1 drugs like Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy and Eli Lilly’s Zepbound to help people lose more weight with fewer side effects.

AbbVie is focusing on “tolerability and durability of weight loss for patients that tend to cycle off of these first-gen therapies,” chief medical officer Roopal Thakkar said at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference.

“We have the longer acting amylin. We like the tolerability profile of that mechanism, but we are interested in building that out further,” added Thakkar.

GLP-1 drugs such as Wegovy and Zepbound mimic hormones produced in the gut, boosting insulin release, slowing digestion and promoting feelings of fullness. Amylin-based drugs replicate a pancreas-derived hormone that also delays gastric emptying and suppresses appetite.

Early data suggests that amylin-based drugs are generally considered more muscle sparing than GLP-1–based ones.

Jeffrey Stewart, AbbVie’s chief commercial officer, said the drugmaker’s existing business in aesthetics keeps them better positioned as the same patients seeking cosmetic treatments are also looking at weight loss.

“We understand how our customers on the aesthetic side will program around weight loss aspects with their own clients that sort of seek that element of care,” said Stewart.

The weight-loss drug market is surging, with biotech firms racing to win a share in a sector that is expected to generate about $150 billion in annual sales in the next decade.

(Reporting by Christy Santhosh in Bengaluru; Editing by Sahal Muhammed)