Terns Pharmaceuticals’ Oral Obesity Drug Shows Promise in Early Study, Shares Jump

(Reuters) -Terns Pharmaceuticals said its oral obesity drug reduced weight by an average of 4.9% in an early stage study, joining drugmakers vying for a share of the lucrative obesity treatment market and sending its shares up 20% on Monday.

The experimental drug is part of the second generation of weight-loss pills under development by companies including Pfizer and Roche, which aims to offer a more convenient alternative to injections.

Market leaders Wegovy from Novo Nordisk and Zepbound from Eli Lilly are both injectable drugs. The two companies are also developing oral weight-loss treatments.

“We’re very pleased with the totality of the data… seeing in particular, no red flags,” Mizuho analyst Graig Suvannavejh said in a note.

Shares of Terns were trading at $9.38 in premarket trading. They have gained about 20% this year, through Friday’s close.

Roche’s experimental once-daily pill in July led to a placebo-adjusted average weight loss of 6.1% within four weeks in obese patients without diabetes in an early-stage study.

The drug, TERN-601, which belongs to the GLP-1 class like Wegovy and Zepbound, met the main goals of safety and tolerability in the study, the company said, adding that majority of the side effects were mild.

The rates of gastrointestinal side effects such as nausea and vomiting were mild to moderate and consistent with other drugs in the class, Terns said.

Pfizer had scrapped the twice-daily version of its obesity pill danuglipron because most patients dropped out of the mid-stage trial with high rates of side effects such as nausea and vomiting.

A 740-milligram dosage of the once-daily drug led to an average weight loss of 4.9%, when adjusted for placebo rates, after four weeks of treatment, Terns said.

The company said it plans to advance the drug into mid-stage trials next year.

(Reporting by Mariam Sunny in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar and Sriraj Kalluvila)