Regeneron bets added cholesterol benefit will help its obesity drug stand out

By Gnaneshwar Rajan and Sriparna Roy

Jan 30 (Reuters) – Regeneron Pharmaceuticals’ executives voiced confidence in its experimental weight-loss drug on Friday, saying added cholesterol-lowering benefits could give the company an edge in an increasingly crowded obesity market.

Several drugmakers are looking to grab a slice of the potential $150 billion weight-loss drug market, aiming to challenge the dominace of Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy and Eli Lilly’s Zepbound.

Last year, Regeneron signed an up to $2 billion licensing deal with Hansoh Pharmaceuticals for the experimental drug olatorepatide, which it believes is comparable to Eli Lilly’s Zepbound.

Regeneron executives said on a post-earnings call the company aims to leverage a “differentiated opportunity” to break into the lucrative sector.

“Imagine if someone had invented a new GLP, which in addition to delivering profound weight loss, could also lower bad cholesterol by 50% to 60%, it would create an important and differentiated opportunity for the many obese patients,” said Chief Scientific Officer George Yancopoulos.

This year, the company plans to start late-stage trials of the drug for obesity in patients with and without Type 2 diabetes, and initiate studies evaluating it in combination with cholesterol drug Praluent.

Since currently approved weight-loss drugs do not meaningfully lower bad cholesterol, the experimental combination aims to treat the large population who also suffer from hyperlipidemia, a condition with abnormally high levels of lipids, such as cholesterol and triglycerides, the company said.

Regeneron said it was encouraged by data from China, where the drug has advanced to late-stage development.

BMO analyst Evan Seigerman told Reuters that while he appreciates Regeneron’s strategy of pairing its asset with other therapeutics, he is concerned over the cost of development and if there is a true unmet need to combine a weight-loss drug with a cholesterol-lowering drug.

“We don’t necessarily want to just compete just for the weight loss. A lot of people are just so focused on the weight loss… We want to take this to a whole another place where we’re adding a completely new benefit,” said Yancopoulos.

(Reporting by Gnaneshwar Rajan and Sriparna Roy in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar)