Health
Zealand’s Weight-Loss Drug Has Minimal Side Effects in Study
- A third of patients taking moderate doses experienced nausea
- Drugmakers look for ways to differentiate from existing shots
Unlike GLP-1 medicines such as Novo’s Wegovy and Ozempic, Zealand’s compound targets a gut hormone called amylin.
Photographer: Guido Krzikowski/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Zealand Pharma A/S said moderate doses of its experimental weight-loss drug helped patients pare pounds with less nausea than some other next-generation contenders in the growing market for obesity drugs.
Only about a third of patients whose doses of Zealand’s petrelintide were capped at 4.8 milligrams experienced nausea in a study, the Danish biotech said Tuesday at the ObesityWeek conference in San Antonio. The group lost an average of 8.6% of their body weight over 16 weeks. Patients on a higher dose of the drug experienced similar weight loss, but with more side effects, Zealand said.