The weight-loss drug market: overhyped or justified?

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The obesity drug market has seen a surge of interest recently, largely thanks to the popularity of glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) drugs like Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy and Eli Lilly’s Mounjaro. The explosion in interest in the drug class has fueled the stock prices of Novo and Lilly, which both have multiple GLP-1 drugs in their portfolios. 

Novo’s stock on the New York Stock Exchange is up over one-third so far in 2023 — trading near $92 per share after beginning the year at $68.48. Lilly has seen even steeper gains with its stock closing at $538.29 on October 2, up almost 48% so far this year.  

So far this year, the GLP-1 surge has negatively impacted the stocks of some medical device companies focused on diabetes and sleep apnea. Analysts have even speculated that the surge in popularit…

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Lilly wraps up acquisition of Versanis, marking the fifth largest pharma deal of 2023

Top 5 biggest M&A deals in the pharmaceutical industry as of August 14, 2023: Pfizer/Seagen ($43B), Biogen/Reata Pharmaceuticals ($7.3B), Astellas Pharma/Iveric Bio ($5.9B), Merck & Co./Prometheus Biosciences ($10.8B), Eli Lilly/Versanis ($1.93B).

Eli Lilly just wrapped up its acquisition of Versanis Bio in a $1.9 billion deal, the pharma giant announced today. The deal marks Lilly’s latest move to build up its pipeline of potential obesity and diabetes treatments, which promises to be a notable growth area for the company. Lilly recently completed its submission of tirzepatide for chronic weight management to the FDA.

The company reported positive Phase 3 results from the SURMOUNT-3 and SURMOUNT-4 studies, showing the highest levels of weight loss observed so far in the SURMOUNT program.

Tirzepatide is a dual glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide (GIP) and glucagon-like peptide-1…

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