Promising early data from an experimental trial of a new obesity treatment pill has sent shares of Danish pharmaceutical Novo Nordisk skyrocketing, Bloomberg reports.
The drug, called amycretin, helped volunteer patients lose a whopping 13 percent of their body weight over just 12 weeks. That means the new pill may be even more effective than the company’s Wegovy injections, which use semaglutide, a medication that has also been used as a diabetes treatment for many years under the brand name Ozempic.
In previous trials, Wegovy led to participants losing six percent of their weight after 12 weeks, and 15 percent after 68 weeks.
Like semaglutide, amycretin targets GLP-1, as well as another hormone called amylin, both of which are believed to be linked to hunger and satiety.
It’s important to note that the sample size of the Phase 1 trial is very small and the research is still ongoing. The drug, codenamed NNC0487-0111, was given to just 36 enrolled participants as an oral tablet in Fukuoka, Japan.
Subsequent and much larger Phase 2, 3, and 4 trials will likely drag on for years, as Quartz points out.
Nonetheless, investors are enthusiastic about the very early results, sending Novo Nordisk stock rising as much as 8.3 percent, making it the biggest publicly traded company in Europe and the 12th worldwide, according to Bloomberg.
Other research has shown that semaglutide can have other key health benefits, including reducing death in patients with heart disease and cutting the progression of diabetic kidney disease. It’s still far too early to tell if amycretin could have the same benefits as well.
There’s also some conflicting evidence that patients may or may not regain their weight if they go off semaglutide.
Novo Nordisk is one of several pharmaceuticals competing to bring obesity treatments to market. And investor appetite is off the charts, with analysts suggesting the industry could be worth $100 billion by 2030, according to Reuters.
These treatments have become so popular that even food companies are ringing the alarm bells.
More on obesity drugs: Semaglutide Can Cut Diabetic Kidney Disease Progression