NexenBio is showing strong performance. This is interpreted as being influenced by the fact that Novo Nordisk, the pharmaceutical company behind the globally popular obesity treatment drug 'Wegovy,' and Eli Lilly are actively acquiring companies with obesity and diabetes-related technologies to strengthen their product competitiveness.
As of 10:23 AM on the 6th, NexenBio is trading at 7,960 KRW, up 2.58% from the previous day.
Since its launch in the United States in June 2021, Novo Nordisk's Wegovy has caused a major stir in the diet market and has almost monopolized the global obesity treatment drug market. Wegovy is a GLP-1 RA class drug and is one of six drugs approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for long-term obesity treatment. It is known to enhance weight loss efficacy by crossing the blood-brain barrier.
However, if Eli Lilly's 'Mounjaro' passes the FDA's new drug approval review decision by the end of this year, it is expected that there will be a two-way competition starting next year.
Both drugs belong to the same GLP-1 class and have excellent therapeutic effects, so they are expected to split the obesity market for the time being. Recently, both companies have been focusing on securing obesity-related pipelines to further strengthen their market dominance.
In early last month, Novo Nordisk acquired Inversago Pharma, a Canada-based biotech developing an oral cannabinoid (CB1) receptor antagonist as its lead asset, and at the end of last month, it also acquired another Danish obesity treatment company, Embark Biotech.
Eli Lilly recently acquired the U.S. biotech company Versanis Bio to develop combination drugs to complement muscle loss side effects mainly found in GLP-1 drugs.
Meanwhile, 'Rossbivo Therapeutics,' in which NexenBio is the largest shareholder, has signed a Confidential Disclosure Agreement (CDA) with Novo Nordisk for joint development and technology export of diabetes treatments, and a Material Transfer Agreement (MTA) with Eli Lilly for commercial development of diabetes and obesity treatments.
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