Boehringer Ingelheim has released detailed phase 3 data for its obesity drug survodutide, showing the therapy helped patients lose up to 16.6% of their body weight while significantly reducing liver fat.
The Synchronize trial results, presented at the American Diabetes Association’s annual meeting, build on topline data released in April showing the trial met its primary endpoints.
Investor concerns
However, despite the positive efficacy data, investor attention has quickly turned to the injectable drug’s tolerability profile.
Boehringer reported that 19% of patients discontinued treatment of the because of gastrointestinal adverse events, including nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea. The figure was 2.9% among patients receiving placebo.
The data triggered a sell-off in shares of Zealand Pharma, which licensed the drug to Boehringer.
The reaction reflects growing scrutiny of new obesity therapies as the market becomes more crowded. While a result of more than 15% weight loss would once have been considered highly competitive, investors are now quick to compare new therapies against established and emerging rivals.
For context, survodutide’s 16.6% result is broadly comparable to that reported for Novo Nordisk’s semaglutide, but below the roughly 20% fat reduction seen with Eli Lilly’s tirzepatide. Eli Lilly’s experimental candidate retatrutide has also reported higher results in recent trials.
Focus shifts to liver disease
The competitive backdrop may help explain why Boehringer devoted much of its presentation to data beyond body weight alone.
Alongside the obesity results, the company reported that liver fat fell by up to 63.1% and visceral fat by up to 34%. It also presented data from a separate phase 3 trial in patients with MASLD, where 61% of patients achieved normal liver fat levels after 48 weeks, compared with 5.7% on placebo.
Speaking at the meeting, Lee Kaplan, Chair, Synchronize Programme Executive Committee, said weight loss was “only one part of the story” for people living with obesity, who also face a higher risk of liver and other diseases.
