Exterior view of the entrance to Merck’s headquarters in Rahway, New Jersey, on February 5, 2024.
Spencer Pratt | Getty Images
Merck announced Wednesday that it has acquired the rights to an experimental weight loss drug from Chinese drugmaker Hanso Pharma in a deal worth up to $2 billion.
The oral drug has not yet entered human trials, and Merck has not said which diseases it plans to test it on first. Still, it raises the possibility that drug companies will capture a slice of the fast-growing obesity drug market, which some analysts predict will be worth more than $100 billion a year by the early 2030s. It will be.
It also includes several other pharmaceutical companies. pfizer and Rocheis racing to develop a more convenient obesity treatment that could compete with Novo Nordisk’s blockbuster injectable drug. Eli Lilly.
Under the terms of the agreement, Merck will receive an exclusive worldwide license to develop, manufacture and commercialize Hansoh Pharma’s HS-10535, an experimental oral drug that targets a gut hormone called GLP-1. I will do it. novo nordisk The popular weight loss drug Wegovy and the diabetes drug Ozempic similarly target GLP-1 to suppress appetite and regulate blood sugar levels.
Merck will pay Hanso $112 million upfront in rights fees for the drug, with an additional $1.9 billion in milestone payments and potential sales royalties, according to a news release.
Merck announced that its fourth quarter results included $112 million before taxes, or 4 cents per share.
Dean Lee, president of Merck Research Laboratories, said in a statement that the oral drug “has the potential to offer additional cardiometabolic benefits beyond weight loss.”
Merck CEO Rob Davis said early last year that the company was exploring GLP-1 treatments that could do more than just reduce weight.
“I think everyone recognizes that weight management is something that’s hard to get reimbursed for. But if we can show outcomes for cardiovascular disease, and we’re starting to see data on outcomes for diabetes. “If we can see the benefits for fatty liver disease… that’s an area where we think there’s an opportunity,” he said at a press conference at the time.
This is the latest deal involving an experimental GLP-1 drug from China. AstraZeneca Last year, it obtained a license for an experimental oral drug from Chinese company Ecogene, which is currently in the development stage.
