Altimmune is working on a new weight loss drug aiming to address a major limitation of the current options available—lean muscle mass loss. By minimizing this loss, Altimmune could provide significant benefits to a large segment of GLP-1 users.
The leading drug candidate by Altimmune is pemvidutide, which is currently being studied for two key conditions: obesity and metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH), a severe liver condition linked to obesity. However, this article will focus on pemvidutide’s potential in the overall obesity market.
One critical advantage of pemvidutide is its ability to preserve lean muscle mass during weight loss. Typically, individuals lose both fat and muscle when they reduce calories, especially with GLP-1 therapies that suppress appetite. This disproportionate loss of muscle can lead to adverse health consequences, including aggravated metabolic decline and increased risk of bone density loss, particularly for older populations.
Research from Blue Cross Blue Shield indicated that a significant majority—80%—of patients prescribed GLP-1s for weight management are women, with nearly 84% being aged 35 or older, indicating a vast prospective customer base for drugs like pemvidutide.
What sets pemvidutide apart from its competitors, such as semaglutide (Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy and Ozempic) and tirzepatide (Eli Lilly’s Mounjaro), is its performance in preserving lean muscle mass. According to studies, patients using semaglutide lost about 39% lean muscle from their total weight loss. Tirzepatide improved this number slightly, with 25% lean muscle loss. In contrast, pemvidutide has shown results indicating only 22% lean muscle loss, with even better numbers for patients over 60 years of age, displaying a promising 20% loss, which could drive doctor referrals.
These clinical results, coupled with a significant potential market, position Altimmune as a noteworthy player in the weight loss drug space. The company has already completed Phase 2 trials for pemvidutide concerning obesity and has gained FDA approval to enter Phase 3 trials. Although this remains a high-risk investment, the preliminary successes suggest Altimmune could eventually realize substantial revenue from this pipeline. Analysts currently project a significant upside in Altimmune’s stock, emphasizing the interest surrounding this development.
Source: MarketBeat
