Data on Novo Nordisk experimental weight-loss drug show mostly mild side effects
Cagrisema shows slightly moderate side effects in trials
The researcher is beneficial for additional weight loss options
Novo Nordisk is planning regulatory filing for Cagrisema in the beginning of 2026
June 22 (Reuters) -Novo Nordisk said on Sunday that the side effects of the full results of the experimental weight loss drug Cagrisema’s two late stage trials show that other results are mainly positive, including mild to medium and blood sugar levels.
The company had previously announced the highest level of results for 68 weeks of work, which led to about 23% weight loss for Cagrisema’s overweight or obese adults, while overweight type 2 diabetes patients lost about 16% of their weight. However, these results disappointed investors and reduced Novo’s shares. The company overthrew Lars Fruergaard Jorgensen last month.
Full Stage 3 results were presented at the annual meeting of the American Diabetes Association in Chicago and published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
In obesity study, 79.6% of Cagrizema patients had temporary, mild gastrointestinal effects such as nausea, vomiting and constipation compared to 39.9% of placebo patients. Serious adverse events occurred in 9.8% of Cagrizema patients and 6.1% of placebo patients.
In the Cagrisema group, 6% of the patients left the trial due to adverse events, 3.7% in the placebo group.
Cagrisema Diabetes Trial Chief Researcher Melanie Davies told Reuters, “Everything was compatible with what we expect.”
The percentage of patients with glyclobin or blood sugar was 6.5% or less, 73.5% in the Cagrisema group and 15.9% in the placebo group.
Dr. Davies accepted questions about why many patients in the trials were not given the highest dose. “Patients with low doses actually had a higher weight loss decrease,” he said. “We haven’t really seen this before because we haven’t had strong treatments that brought people closer to the target.”
Cagrisema is a weekly injection that combines Novo’s GLP-1 drug Wegovy, which broke the box office records of Novo, with another molecule that mimics a hunger suppressing hunger-printing hormone called Amilin.
Cagrisema Phase 3 trial results “The best class, which is the best in Tirmizepathide, was also very positively compared.” He said.
For weight loss, the hand sold under Zepbound brand Lilly’s tirzepathide, together with a second intestinal hormone called GIP, works by stimulating the GLP-1. Obese and overweight adults have been shown to help to lose 22% of their weight for 72 weeks.
Dr. Davies said it makes sense to have more options for patients, including Amylin, which was shown to increase energy expenditures in animal studies and “theoretical benefits”. If this effect is seen in humans, it can help reduce the metabolic adaptation of the body’s weight loss.
Novo Nordisk said he plans to apply for Cagrisema for regulatory approvals in the first quarter of 2026.
“Maybe we’re waiting to be approved at the beginning of 2027,” Martin Holst Lange, President of Novo Nordisk, told Reuters. He said. The company conducts another Cagrisema attempt, including measuring its effect on cardiovascular results.
Lange, doses of lower drug doses of the trial patients often lose weight as higher doses, and dose increase between longer periods of time, including the need to think of flexibility needs, he said. “This also allows them to lose their body weight at a speed that is not very upright. It also reduces side effects,” he said.
(Reporting by Deena Beasley, Editing by Franklin Paul)
