Intense competition in the weight loss drug market: Novo Nordisk AS invests $1 billion in two US start-ups

In order to consolidate its leading position in the weight loss drug market, Novo Nordisk AS is making a big bet on the development of a new type of weight loss therapy.

On January 4th, local time, Danish pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk AS announced research collaboration agreements with US biotechnology start-ups Omega Therapeutics and Cellarity, with a total collaboration amount of up to $532 million.

According to the announcement, Novo Nordisk AS will use Omega's proprietary platform technology to develop an epigenetic genome controller that aims to enhance cellular metabolic activity as a potential new therapy for obesity management, replacing traditional appetite suppression therapies.

The collaboration between Novo Nordisk AS and Cellarity aims to uncover novel biological drivers of metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD) and develop small molecule therapies for the disease using Cellarity's platform. It is reported that MAFLD affects up to 6.5% of adults in the United States.

Both Omega and Cellarity are innovative biotechnology platform companies within the ecosystem of Flagship Pioneering, a top-tier venture capital firm. Flagship operates like an incubator and has created the COVID-19 vaccine giant Moderna.

If a few years ago, COVID-19 vaccine development companies were all the rage in the capital market, then since last year, the hot track has shifted to weight loss drugs. In 2023, Novo Nordisk AS and Eli Lilly have attracted sustained market attention due to the strong demand for their respective weight loss drug products.

Barclays Bank predicts that this year, Novo Nordisk AS's weight loss drug Wegovy will achieve sales of $7.3 billion, and the sales of diabetes treatment drug Ozempic will reach $16.5 billion. Barclays Bank also predicts that the global weight loss drug market will reach annual sales of $100 billion within ten years.

At the same time, competition in the weight loss drug market is becoming increasingly fierce, with several recent acquisition deals targeting weight loss drug development projects. In December 2023, Swiss pharmaceutical giant Roche announced that it had agreed to acquire weight loss drug developer Carmot Therapeutics for $3.1 billion.

In November 2023, AstraZeneca agreed to purchase the patent rights of Chinese biotech company GLP-1 drug ECC5004 for $2 billion. In July 2023, Eli Lilly acquired Versanis for $1.93 billion to further expand its product line.