Altimmune to test obesity drug for alcohol use disorder and related health conditions

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(Reuters) – Altimmune said on Thursday that it plans to test its lead experimental obesity drug, pemvidutide, to potentially treat alcohol use disorder and alcohol-associated liver disease.

WHY IT’S IMPORTANT

Pemvidutide belongs to the same class of drugs as Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy and Ozempic and Eli Lilly’s Mounjaro and Zepbound, known as GLP-1 agonists.

The popular newer diabetes and weight loss drugs are being tested to treat several additional health conditions, such as liver diseases, chronic kidney disease and neurological disorders, as well as alcohol use disorder, as companies try to move beyond their image of a “lifestyle drug”.

Novo’s popular Wegovy is already approved for treating a type of heart disease, while Lilly’s Zepbound is approved for treating sleep apnea.

CONTEXT

In February, researchers reported that Novo Nordisk’s blockbuster diabetes drug, Ozempic, showed improvements in certain measures of alcohol use disorder during a nine-week trial.

The Danish drugmaker is also testing semaglutide – sold as the diabetes drug Ozempic and the obesity drug Wegovy – in thousands of patients with early-stage Alzheimer’s disease, with results expected in 2025.

WHAT’S NEXT

Altimmune plans to initiate a mid-stage trial testing pemvidutide for alcohol use disorder in the second quarter and another mid-stage trial testing it for alcohol-associated liver disease in the third quarter of this year.

MARKET REACTION

Shares of the company were up 3% in aftermarket trading before paring gains.

(Reporting by Sneha S K in Bengaluru; Editing by Mohammed Safi Shamsi)