Pfizer announced last week that it is discontinuing development of its twice-daily weight loss pill “danuglipron” after a clinical trial showed “high rates” of adverse side effects among users.
The pharmaceutical company said a recent study involving adults with obesity proved the drug’s “primary endpoint demonstrating statistically significant change in body weight from baseline.”
However, “while the most common adverse events were mild and gastrointestinal in nature consistent with the mechanism, high rates were observed (up to 73% nausea; up to 47% vomiting; up to 25% diarrhea).”
“High discontinuation rates, greater than 50%, were seen across all doses compared to approximately 40% with placebo,” Pfizer added.
Pfizer claims danuglipron is “intended to keep blood sugar at healthy levels and work by increasing the amount of insulin released and lowering the amount of glucagon released into the blood,” while also slowing down the digestion of food and increasing the feeling of fullness after eating.
“We believe an improved once-daily formulation of danuglipron could play an important role in the obesity treatment paradigm, and we will focus our efforts on gathering the data to understand its potential profile,” Mikael Dolsten, the chief scientific officer and president of Pfizer Research and Development, said in a statement.
“Results from ongoing and future studies of the once-daily danuglipron modified release formulation will inform a potential path forward with an aim to improve the tolerability profile and optimize both study design and execution.”
