Novo Nordisk Has a Weight-Loss Pill But Can ’t Make It Yet

Novo Nordisk A/S has a successor waiting in the wings for the generation of weight-loss shots it pioneered: a pill that helps people shed pounds without the drawbacks of an injection. The medicine is the next frontier in the obesity fight, promising further billions in revenue, and Novo is leading once again. Trouble is, it can’t launch the drug widely without endangering its existing best-sellers. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] The pill helps patients lose roughly as much weight as the blockbuster Wegovy. But the oral version requires far more of the same active ingredient, called semaglutide, and Novo already can’t make enough of it to meet demand. That leaves Novo in a bind. Either it finds a way to further ramp up production or it curtails the pill’s launch, ceding ground to rivals rushing to develop competing products, like Eli Lilly & Co., Amgen Inc. and Pfizer Inc. Chief Executive Officer Lars Fruergaard Jorgensen acknowledges that Novo underestimated the demand when it originally drew up plans for a pill.  Now the company, which originally planned to apply for U.S. regulatory approval last year, has to consider how best to manage its limited semaglutide supply. “It’s clear that when we make a tablet version and use semaglutide, we need to use a lot,” Jorgensen said in an interview on Wednesday in New York. “We cannot conquer the world with that technology as a template.” Re...
Source: TIME: Health - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized bloomberg wire healthscienceclimate Source Type: news