Pfizer, Metsera’s new obstacle bet, publishes drug data
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PfizerThe latest bet on obesity is already promising.
The company said last week that weight loss drug manufacturer Metsera worth up to 7.3 billion US dollars, including future payments, is expected to be completed at the end of the year. Just a week later, Metsera published data from studies with a medium -sized level for its leading obesity candidate, with whom the company can start the phase three studies on the treatment later this year.
Metsera, founded in 2022, has a pipeline of both oral and injectable treatments with different goals. The company decreased these medication through its own license and acquisition transactions. But all eyes are on the injection of Metsera, Met-097i, which are the most under development.
The company develops the injection, which is to be taken once a month, which can offer a convenient advantage over the weekly injections that are currently dominating the market. Met-097i is located in the GLP 1 class, which is the same category as Novo Nordisk‘S obesity drugs Weitovy and Eli Lilly‘S competitive treatment zepbound.
Early data indicate that it can provide strong weight loss with less gastrointestinal side effects than the treatments on the market. The new data on Monday seem to secure this – at least for the time being.
In a note on Monday, the JPmorgan analyst Chris Schott said: “In the broader sense, we continue to see Met-097i as one of several emerging competitors, of which we believe that they will take a share of Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk over time. He called the results” solid “and added that the overall profile of the pharmaceutical loss in line with ELI Lillys weight loss -T medication corresponds to zepbound.
Let us break down the results.
How much weight have patients lost?
According to Metsera, the highest dose of his injection after 28 weekly doses in a study with a medium level called Vesper-1 showed a weight loss of up to 14.1%. Some participants have lost much more, with the highest weight loss 26.5%.
Vesper-1 has an ongoing extension study that contains less frequent dosage options. Metsera said an exploratory analysis at the end of the weekly dosage phase of the extension after 36 weeks showed “significant and continued weight loss”, which means that no plateau had taken place.
It is difficult to compare the results with that of other medications without head-to-head studies, but the weight loss caused by MetSera’s injection seems to be encouraging. After 68 weeks in larger phase, three attempts caused around 15% weight loss after 68 weeks. Zepbound has shown weight loss of over 20% in late stage studies.
The other study, Vesper-3, continues so that Metsa did not report any weight loss data on Monday. This study examines the monthly dosage of the injection, whereby, according to the company, the initial data for weight loss after the end of the year or in early 2026 is expected. The drug has a long half-life or the time that reduces the concentration of the drug in your body by half, which enables a one-month dosage.
How well did patients tolerate the medication?
In both studies on the basis of existing data, the patients seemed to be able to cope with the injection of Metsersera. However, we still need more detailed data from the experiments to say whether they can be better tolerated than the injections on the market and at the same time offer competitive weight loss.
The company said that in a start dose of 0.4 milligrams, its injection in both attempts was also sold as placebo. Metsera said that one to two steps increases that this dose could give the medication to the GLP-1 class a compatibility port of rivals.
In Vesper-3, patients who are gradually increased by their dose to the highest dose-1,2 milligrams over 12 weeks “little diarrhea, with only slight increase in nausea and vomiting”. The rates of nausea and vomiting in these patients were 13% or 11% over placebo.
Even with higher doses without gradual increase, the side effects of the injection in Vesper-1 were comparable to other approved weight loss medication, according to Metsera.
Remarkably, only 2.9% of patients in this study – two out of 239 patients – stopped treatment due to side effects. Although it is only a medium -sized study, this demolition rate is encouraging.
Other obesity medications in development have reported demolition quotas close to 10%, which is something about the existing market treatments.
Overall, we still want to see studies in the late stage at the other drugs of Met-097i and Metsera. If everything runs as planned, the company’s pipeline can deliver considerable returns across the board for Pfizer.
In a note last week, the analyst of Leerink Partners, David Risinger, said that the company estimates that MetSera’s obesity candidates have the potential to generate more than 5 billion US dollars for combined annual sales.
We will cover them carefully, so stay tuned.
Feel free to feel tips, suggestions, ideas and data in Annika to Annika on a new e -mail: annika.constantino@versantmedia.com.
Latest in healthcare: a high use of Medicare Open registration
The health insurers prioritize the profitability from the growth of the Medicare advantage for 2026, after eating the edges with higher health costs and regulatory shifts with higher than expected members.
Project the centers for Medicare & Medicaid services that the withdrawal in some plan offers could lead to a decline in membership of Medicare Advantage (MA) next year. It would be the first decline in more than a decade. According to the agency, the market remains stable and planning offers are robust.
But Medicare brokers who help seniors to register for plans say that this could be one of the most disturbing registration times for more than a decade. Insurers prioritize plans with more restrictive providers and eliminate the commissions for less profitable plans as a whole. Baird analysts calculate that more than 70% of these so -called disused plans are PPOS or plans for organizing the provider organization in further networks.
The big players have telegraphed many of these strategies in the past few months. However, analysts say that regional insurers carry out some of the same movements, and this could prove to be a game card in the mix.
“Ending the potential for the regional, MA in sensible numbers, increases the operations for national MA plans this year, since an increased risk of misalignment leads to unexpected growth,” Elizabeth Anderson from Evercore Isi wrote in a note to customers on Tuesday morning.
The impending government on Wednesday is another unknown, although a former CMS official should not disturb the open registration period, since the financing of the contractors involved in this process would have already been assigned.
Seniors can see the first look at new 2026 plans on Wednesday, before the actual start of the open enrollment on October 15.
Feel free to send tips, suggestions, ideas and data in story and data to a new e -mail: bertha.coombs@versantmedia.com.
