Biotech Values

[DewDiligence]

B-I/ZEAL weight-loss drug—>tox similar_to ALT’s drug_from_same class:

https://www.evaluate.com/vantage/articles/events/conferences/ada-2023-toxicity-undermines-boehringer-and-zealands-incretin

Data presented late yesterday appears to suggest once again that the only thing glucagon agonism adds to GLP-1 agonism is toxicity. The side effects of survodutide, the GLP-1/glucagon co-agonist being developed by Boehringer Ingelheim and Zealand Pharma, prompted high levels of discontinuation in a mid-stage obesity trial.

…It is the adverse event rates, and particularly AE-related discontinuations, that stand out. Nearly a quarter of patients on the highest dose of survodutide backed out of the trial citing side effects. This has strong echoes of the dropouts seen with Altimmune’s pemvidutide in its obesity study (#msg-171498058)…

…Boehringer and Zealand had hoped survodutide would escape this level of toxicity since it has eightfold greater affinity for the GLP-1 receptor than the glucagon receptor. [ALT’s ] pemvidutide is equimolar.

The results seen in obesity with survodutide and pemvidutide suggest that GLP-1/glucagon agonists are only roughly as effective as Wegovy...but much less safe.