Roche obesity drug shows 15.5% weight loss in diabetes trial

Investing.com -- Swiss drugmaker Roche announced Tuesday that its experimental obesity treatment helped patients with type 2 diabetes reduce blood sugar levels and lose an average 15.5% of their body weight in a mid-stage trial.

The company is competing with AstraZeneca and Amgen to enter the obesity drug market currently dominated by Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk.

The experimental drug, enicepatide, is a once-weekly injection that mimics GLP-1 and GIP hormones to reduce appetite and regulate blood sugar.

Patients who received 24 milligrams of enicepatide, the highest dose, saw reductions in HbA1c levels at 48 weeks, meeting the two main goals of the study. HbA1c measures blood-glucose levels over time.

About 62% of patients achieved HbA1c levels below 5.7%, bringing their blood sugar into the non-diabetic range.

In the 447-patient study, about 2% of patients taking enicepatide discontinued treatment due to side effects, compared with none in the placebo group. Most gastrointestinal side effects were mild to moderate.

The company reported in June that enicepatide helped overweight or obese patients without diabetes lose 22.7% of their body weight in a separate mid-stage trial.

Roche plans to start late-stage glycemic-control and cardiovascular outcomes studies in the first half of 2027.

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