Future obesity drugs must provide improved efficacy and safety, says GBI Research

A highly innovative and diverse pipeline of 248 products in active development is set to tackle the ever-encroaching obesity crisis.

While most pipeline products target gut hormone receptors, the remainder target a wide range of processes thought to be dysregulated in obesity, such as angiogenesis, insulin signalling, inflammation, fat absorption, lipid synthesis, and metabolism.

Senior Analyst Angel Wong: "The high level of innovation and diversity in molecular target in development is encouraging, with a number of these not only showing close alignment to the disease pathophysiology but also addressing multiple mechanisms underpinning the development of obesity.

"As obesity is a multifactorial disease, targeting multiple systems may potentially avoid compensatory mechanisms that lead to weight regain and achieve sustainable weight loss over the long term."

The analyst also says that small molecules, accounting for 66% of the overall pipeline, are the dominant molecule type in all stages of development for obesity treatment. Biologic therapeutics, consisting largely of peptides, proteins, antibodies and vaccines, also feature prominently.

GBI Research's report also states that the long-term treatment options for obesity remain sparse, including the dietary fat absorption inhibitor Xenical (orlistat), and appetite suppressants including Qsymia (phentermine and topiramate extended release), Belviq (lorcaserin hydrochloride), and the two new market entrants Contrave (naltrexone and bupropion) and Saxenda (liraglutide rDNA origin).

Wong continues: "Prescription of these treatments is generally limited, primarily due to concerns over their long-term safety, with the past decade seeing a number of drug withdrawals in the market as a result of serious cardiovascular risks and psychiatric adverse reactions.

"The uptake of anti-obesity drugs has also been hindered by their modest efficacy in inducing sustained body weight reduction. All of these factors are driving efforts to address the significant unmet need for effective obesity therapeutics with favorable safety profiles," the analyst concludes.