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PfizerThe new bet on obesity is already being promised.
The company the company said last week that the manufacturer of medicines for losing metsess weight in an agreement of up to $ 7.3 billion, including future payments, which is expected to close at the end of the year. Only a week later, Metsera published data on mid -stage trials on its main obesity drug candidate that will allow the company to start phase three studies on treatment at the end of this year.
Metsera, founded in 2022, brings a pipe of oral and injectable treatments with different objectives. The company collected those medications through its own license and acquisition agreements. But all eyes are in Metsera injection, MET-097I, which is the most important in development.
The company is developing the injection that will be taken once a month, which could offer a convenient advantage over weekly injections that currently dominate the market. MET-097I is in the GLP-1 class, which is the same category as Novo NordiskThe obesity drug is full and Eli LillyThe rival rival treatment Zepbound.
Early data suggests that it can offer great weight loss with less gastrointestinal side effects than market treatments. The new data on Monday seem to support that, at least for now.
In a note on Monday, JPMorgan analyst Chris Schott said: “We continue to see Met-097I as one of several emerging competitors who believe we will take part” of Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk over time. He called the “solid” results, adding that the general profile of the medicine seems in line with the medication to lose weight of Eli Lilly Zepbound.
Let's break down the results.
How much weight did the patients lose?
Metsera said that the highest dose of its injection demonstrated a weight loss of up to 14.1% on average after 28 weekly doses in a medium stage trial called Vesper-1. Some participants lost much more, with the highest weight loss of 26.5%.
Vesper-1 has an ongoing extension study that includes less frequent dosing options. Metsera said that an exploratory analysis at the end of the weekly dosage phase of the extension at 36 weeks demonstrated “substantial and continuous weight loss”, which means that a plateau had not happened.
It is difficult to compare the results with those of other medications without studies of face to face, but the weight loss caused by metsess injection seems to be encouraging. Wegovy caused about 15% weight loss after 68 weeks in three largest phase tests. Zepbound has demonstrated weight loss above 20% in late stage studies.
The other trial, Vesper-3 is in progress, so Metsera did not report weight loss on Monday. This trial is examining the monthly dosing of the injection, with the initial weight loss data expected by the end of the year or early 2026, according to the company. The medicine has a long half -life, or the time that takes the concentration of the drug in its body to reduce by half, which makes the dose possible once a month.
How well the patients tolerate the medication?
Patients seemed to handle metsera injection well in both studies, depending on existing data. But we still need more detailed data of the trials to say if it can be better tolerated than injections in the market, while offering competitive weight loss.
The company said that at an initial dose of 0.4 milligrams, its injection was as tolerated as a placebo in both trials. Metsera said that gradual increases, one to two, in that dose they could give the medicine an advantage of tolerability over rivals in the GLP-1 class.
In Vesper-3, patients who gradually increase their dose at the highest dose, 1.2 milligrams, for 12 weeks saw “little diarrhea, with only modest increases in nausea and vomiting.” Nausea and vomiting rates between these patients were 13% and 11% above placebo, respectively.
Even at higher doses without a gradual increase, the side effects of the VESPER-1 injection were comparable to other medications approved for weight loss, according to metsera.
In particular, only 2.9% of patients in that trial, two of 239 patients, arrested treatment due to side effects. While it is only a medium stage study, that interruption rate is encouraging.
Other medications for development obesity have reported interruption rates close to 10%, which is slightly above those of existing treatments in the market.
In general, we still want to see in the latest stage in the other Met-097I and Metsera drugs. If everything goes as planned, the company's pipe could deliver considerable yields for Pfizer in the future.
In a note last week, Leadck Partners analyst David Risinger said the firm estimates that metsest obesity candidates have the potential to generate more than $ 5 billion in combined maximum annual sales.
We will make sure to cover them closely, so be attentive.
Feel free to send any advice, suggestion, stories ideas and data to Annika in a new email: [email protected].
The latest in medical care: an open registration of high -risk Medicare
Health insurers are prioritizing the profitability of growth in Medicare Advantage by 2026, after dealing with health costs of the members of the highest members and regulatory refund changes that have returned to the margins.
The Medicare and Medicaid service centers project that the recoil in some offers of plans could lead to a decrease in Medicare Advantage (MA) membership next year. It would be the first decrease in more than a decade. Even so, the agency says that the market is still stable and that plans offers are robust.
But Medicare runners who help old people to register in the plans say that this could be one of the most disruptive registration periods in more than a decade. Insurers are prioritizing plans with more restrictive suppliers networks, eliminating commissions in less profitable plans. Baird analysts estimate that more than 70% of the so -called dismantling plans are PPO or organization of preferred more broad network suppliers.
The great players have telegraphic many of these strategies in recent months. However, analysts say that regional insurers are doing some of the same movements, and that could be the wild card in the mixture.
“The potential for regional to leave ma in significant numbers increase bets for national ma plans this year, given a high risk of erroneous prices that lead to unforeseen growth,” wrote Elizabeth Anderson from Evercore Isi in a note for customers on Tuesday morning.
The impending government closure on Wednesday is another stranger, although a former CMS official says that he should not interrupt the open registration period because financing for contractors involved in the process would have already been assigned.
Older people can obtain their first look at the new 2026 plans that begin on Wednesday, before the real start of open registration on October 15.
Do not hesitate to send any advice, suggestion, stories ideas and data to Bertha in a new email: [email protected].
