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Roche stock slid Monday morning after a conference poster highlighted data regarding the side effects patients experienced during an early-stage trial of its experimental weight loss drug.
The poster was released at this week’s European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) annual meeting. It noted that the patients in a small clinical trial of the company’s experimental weight loss drug CT-388 experienced mild to moderate gastrointestinal side effects like nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea.
“The gastrointestinal profile of Roche’s CT-388 for obesity may have pressured the company’s shares,” Bloomberg Intelligence analysts said on Monday.
Roche shares fell up to 4.5% on Monday morning. They were down about 2.8% at the time of publication.
In an abstract of the trial, Roche noted that the study had no treatment-related discontinuations and that the drug was found to be “safe and tolerable.”
Roche is one of several pharma companies racing to break up the anti-obesity drug duopoly held by Ozempic maker Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly, which produces Zepbound and Mounjaro.
The 127-year-old Roche first entered the weight loss drug game earlier this year when it bought Carmot Therapeutics for $2.7 billion; the deal included two drug candidates, CT-996 — a daily pill — and the weekly injectable CT-388.
Roche said in May that patients taking CT-388, a weekly injection, lost 18.8% of their weight on average after 24 weeks on the drug in a small clinical trial.
As a result, the company said in July that it is fast-tracking the development of its weight loss drug candidates. Its stock has risen over 20% since May.
More weight loss drug competition
Terns Pharmaceuticals is the latest company to enter the race to introduce a new weight loss drug to the market.
The pharma company said Monday that in a small clinical trial its daily weight loss pill helped patients lose an average of 5% of their weight in just 28 days, compared with patients on a placebo.
Terns stock jumped over 20% following the news.