Pfizer $PFE presented mid-stage data on Saturday showing that its experimental monthly weight loss drug berobenatide produced a side-effect profile comparable to Novo Nordisk's weekly injectable Wegovy.
Nausea and vomiting rates for the monthly injectable berobenatide came in close to benchmarks set by Novo Nordisk's weekly shot
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ANGELA WEISS / Getty Images
Pfizer $PFE presented mid-stage data on Saturday showing that its experimental monthly weight loss drug berobenatide produced a side-effect profile comparable to Novo Nordisk's weekly injectable Wegovy.
The data were presented at the American Diabetes Association's annual meeting in New Orleans. Across all treatment arms in the VESPER-3 study, nausea was reported by about 38% of patients on average and vomiting by roughly 23.3%, according to Reuters. For context, nausea affected approximately 44% of participants and vomiting affected approximately 25% in Novo Nordisk's pivotal Wegovy trial.
Pfizer Chief Internal Medicine Officer Jim List said gastrointestinal events were largely limited to early doses and clustered near the time patients received the injection. "Because of the very long half life here, you get a very smooth profile compared to weeklies," List told Reuters. "When you give it monthly ... it's very front-loaded. It does not persist through the month."
A spike in adverse events detected as patients moved from weekly to monthly administration in the trial has prompted Pfizer to build a more gradual escalation schedule into its upcoming late-stage studies, List said.
Efficacy data from VESPER-3 showed that completers who stayed on treatment shed up to 12.1% of their body weight at the 28-week mark, according to STAT News. The trial design called for an initial 12-week phase of weekly injections followed by a shift to higher-dose monthly administration. Weight reduction was still accelerating at the 28-week endpoint rather than leveling off, a positive signal, though berobenatide trailed Eli Lilly $LLY's Zepbound when the two drugs were compared at equivalent stages of their respective trials, according to STAT News.
Separately, data from an exploratory extension of the VESPER-1 study showed patients who escalated from placebo to a 2.4 mg weekly dose of berobenatide achieved a non-placebo-adjusted weight loss of 15.9% at 32 weeks, with no plateau observed, the company said.
Berobenatide came into Pfizer's portfolio via the company's $10 billion buyout of Metsera. The acquisition gave Pfizer a new foothold in metabolic disease at a moment when it had already pulled two internal obesity candidates from development because of liver toxicity findings. Pfizer is positioning monthly dosing as a differentiator from weekly injectables on the market, arguing it could improve patient adherence.
The company said it plans to advance 10 Phase 3 studies for berobenatide in 2026, covering chronic weight management and conditions including knee osteoarthritis and obstructive sleep apnea. The pivotal VESPER-6 Phase 3 study investigating monthly dosing is now open for enrollment.
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