Biotech Values

[DewDiligence]

LLY/sleep-apnea—I couldn't tell from the article whether OSA symptoms were reduced concomitant with weight loss -which would be expected - or were a direct result of the exposure to the drug?

Good question, but we’ll have to wait for LLY to present the full dataset at the ADA conference to know the answer.

If the (placebo-adjusted) OSA benefit is seen early in the two one-year trials—i.e. before patients have lost a significant amount of weight—we may surmise that Zepbound is having a direct effect on symptoms, and people will want to know what the MoA is. On the other hand, if the OSA benefit kicks in mostly during the latter months of these trials, we may presume that the OSA benefit stems, at least in large part, from the weight loss.

To know for sure, LLY could test Zepbound in OSA patients who are not obese; however, non-obese patients comprise only one third of the OSA market, so such a trial might not be an attractive business proposition.