According to Investing.com, the market reacted instantly. Although the drug proved to be highly effective in the fight against obesity, concerns about its tolerability provoked a large-scale sell-off of the company’s shares.
According to the data from the Phase III SYNCHRONIZE-1 study, which lasted 76 weeks and included 725 obese or overweight adults without type 2 diabetes, patients who received survodutide lost up to 16.6% of their body weight. In the placebo group, the reduction was only 3.2%.
However, it was the safety data that was the focus of investors’ attention. Treatment was discontinued in 23.7% of patients on the 3.6 mg dose and 24.8% of patients on the 6 mg dose. In comparison, in the placebo group, this figure was 5.4%. In most cases, the reason for discontinuation of therapy was gastrointestinal side effects – nausea, vomiting and other digestive disorders.
Wolfe Research analysts, who maintain an Outperform rating on shares of Zealand Pharma, believe that such a high figure makes investors more carefully assess the balance between the drug’s effectiveness and its tolerability, especially against the backdrop of increasing competition in the fast-growing market of drugs for weight loss.
In an additional MRI-based body composition study, survodutide at the maximum dosage provided a 34% reduction in visceral fat versus 11.8% in the placebo group. Liver fat content decreased by 63.1% vs. 24.5%, respectively.
According to the source, the drug survodutide was developed under license from the German pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim, which is responsible for its further development and commercialization. For Zealand Pharma, the success of the project is of strategic importance: the company expects to receive royalties from global sales of the drug, as well as up to 315 million euros in potential milestone payments.
