Roche’s (ROG.S) foray into the prospective $100 billion obesity market can bring wider benefits. On Monday, the $224 billion Swiss pharma group said it had agreed to take over weight-loss drug developer Carmot Therapeutics for $2.7 billion. Carmot’s most promising drug candidate is similar to Eli Lilly’s (LLY.N) Mounjaro, which reduced patients’ weight by more than 20% in a recent trial.
CEO Thomas Schinecker, who took the helm this year, looks late to the game. Market leader Novo Nordisk (NOVOb.CO) is already selling obesity drugs in the U.S. and parts of Europe. And U.S. competitor Eli Lilly won approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for its rival medication last month. Meanwhile, oncology powerhouse AstraZeneca (AZN.L) also agreed to pay up to $2 billion for the rights to an experimental weight-loss pill from China’s Eccogene. Still, Schinecker’s obesity bet could turn successful if it ends up undercutting obesity pioneers on prices. Novo Nordisk’s blockbuster drug Wegovy can cost U.S. patients around $1,000 a month. But keeping that pricing power will be harder as more and more drugmakers vie for the same patients. With over 1 billion people globally classed as seriously overweight, other drugmakers will follow Roche on the obesity bandwagon. (By Aimee Donnellan)
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