Novo's obesity drug cuts risk of heart disease in study

(Reuters) -Novo Nordisk said on Tuesday a large study had shown its highly effective obesity drug Wegovy also had a clear cardiovascular benefit, boosting the Danish drugmaker's hopes of moving beyond Wegovy's image as a lifestyle drug.

The late-stage trial showed that patients on Wegovy had a 20% lower incidence of heart attack, stroke or death from heart disease compared to those on a placebo.

COMMENTS:

EMILY FIELD, ANALYST, BARCLAYS

"If they play baseball in Denmark, Wegovy just hit a home run"

LARS CHRISTENSEN, DANISH INDEPENDENT ECONOMIST

"I am tempted (to) say that Novo's Wegovy will do more for global economic growth and well-being than AI. This particularly is the case for U.S. economy where obesity is a major economic burden."

CHIM LANG, CO-NATIONAL LEADER OF THE SELECT TRIAL IN THE UK, PROFESSOR AT UNIVERSITY OF DUNDEE

"We will await to see the full results of this landmark trial that will include information on its tolerability and safety. We also await to see if these results will inform and translate into clinical practice guidelines."

NAVEED SATTAR, PROFESSOR OF METABOLIC MEDICINE, UNIVERSITY OF GLASGOW

"The one thing to caution is we do not know to what extent the weight loss effects of semaglutide as opposed to its other direct effects on blood vessels or the heart, account for the 20% reduction in cardiovascular events, and more data are needed to try to work this out."

STEPHEN O’RAHILLY, DIRECTOR OF THE MRC METABOLIC DISEASES UNIT, INSTITUTE OF METABOLIC SCIENCE, UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE

"The obvious conclusion of these findings is that we should view obesity as a medical condition, like hypertension (high blood pressure), where effective and safe drug therapy can contribute to reducing serious adverse health outcomes.”

SIMON CORK, SENIOR LECTURER IN PHYSIOLOGY, ANGLIA RUSKIN UNIVERSITY

"This data also shows the need for obesity to be treated as a serious health issue which needs aggressive treatment."

"The advent of these drugs, and the others which are in late stage clinical trials, will hopefully change the narrative around how we treat obesity in the future."

KJELD MOLLER PEDERSEN, PROFESSOR OF HEALTH ECONOMICS, UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN DENMARK

"This will ignite a political debate that will aim to put pressure on Novo Nordisk to lower its prices. It will be very interesting to see what the company says about pricing. (...) But what I think will ultimately help reduce prices of new obesity drugs is the increasing competition within the industry."

KIM HELLEBERG MADSEN, DIRECTOR OF PHARMACOECONOMICS AND MEDICINE AVAILABILITY, THE DANISH MEDICINES AGENCY

"We will respond to the study if Novo Nordisk chooses to submit a new application that will include the results of the study. We cannot comment in advance on whether it will have an impact on the decision, as there are several factors in addition to the study results that must be taken into account when subsidy applications are considered."

SOREN LONTOFT HANSEN, ANALYST, SYDBANK

"It will be received positively, and it should be, based on the fact that being severely overweight people have an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, so this study will also cause a stir among doctors who prescribe anti-obesity drugs."

"It may also increase the likelihood that payers in certain markets will engage in dialogue regarding Novo also being able to obtain subsidies in some markets. In any case, it will contribute to the discussion about obesity as a chronic disease."

MOHIT BANSAL, ANALYST, WELLS FARGO

"We think investor bogey was 15% benefit for the SELECT trial, and with 20% benefit these data put Wegovy at par with other CV (cardiovascular) drugs. However, this class drives weight loss hence makes patients feel better, therefore, the overall profile of this drug would be perceived better than any other cardiovascular drug."

RICHARD VOSSER, ANALYST, J.P.MORGAN"We see this as a pivotal result which has the potential to substantially change the Obesity treatment paradigm, not only increasing patient stay-time on the drug (potentially even doubling the stay time of the drug to 24 months) but also revolutionizing physician attitudes to treating obesity early which could increase the penetration of obesity treatment and in particularly Wegovy."

"In the future (after 1 year of treatment discontinuation), we expect that Novo will also be able to use SELECT to gain a label for prevention of diabetes, which will further argue for treating obesity."

MARKUS MANNS, PORTFOLIO MANAGER, UNION INVESTMENT

"The results are a great success for Novo Nordisk. ... With these numbers, medical insurances should also become more inclined to cover the costs of Wegovy."

DUANE MELLOR , DIETICIAN AND SENIOR LECTURER OF ASTON UNIVERSITY IN BIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND

"It is not known if the change in MACE (which is a combination of different fatal and non-fatal serious cardiovascular events) is a result of greater weight loss in those treated with semaglutide or an effect of the semaglutide itself.

TERENCE MCMANUS, FUND MANAGER, BELLEVUE ASSET MANAGEMENT

"This result of SELECT is significantly ahead of expectations. Putting aside other benefits, this would be a good cardiovascular drug alone based on these results."

"Cardiovascular events such as strokes are expensive for healthcare systems through the increased care such patients need, therefore reducing these events should be supportive of pharmacoeconomic evaluations."

"There will be an 'halo effect' on the drug class. It is possible that payors read-across drugs in the same class to have a range of options and some price competition, rather than wait for each study to readout."

RITA HVALBYE, HEAD OF UNIT AT THE NORWEGIAN MEDICINES AGENCY

"We have a deadline of up to 180 days to review new data, but can't say how long it will take in this case until we've seen how much material we receive."

JEFF LEVIN-SCHERZ, POPULATION HEALTH LEADER, WILLIS TOWERS WATSON

"I suspect that medical claims savings from this are years away – and the drugs are economically likely to be at best 'cost effective' (i.e. they give patients quality adjusted life years for a reasonable price) rather than 'cost saving' (offer a medical benefit and lower total cost of care)."

"Employers remain worried about the cost of these drugs – and I'm hopeful that unit costs will come down after there are more such drugs on the market to allow many to benefit from them."

HENRIK HALLENGREEN LAUSTSEN, ANALYST, JYSKE BANK

"The results could improve the willingness to pay for obesity drugs and provide higher incentive to treat obesity at earlier state. Furthermore, this could also increase the stay time (due to longer or higher reimbursement) on the drugs."

(Compiled by Mariam Sunny in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)