CHICAGO — Amgen’s monthly obesity candidate led to substantial weight loss but a high rate of side effects and discontinuations in a mid-stage trial, results that support the company’s decision to use a slower dosing schedule to make the drug more tolerable in further testing.
In the Phase 2 study, patients with obesity taking the injectable drug, called MariTide, lost up to 16.2% of their weight in one year when taking into account all participants regardless of discontinuations. Patients lost up to 19.9% when analyzing only those who stayed on treatment.
Patients with obesity and type 2 diabetes lost up to 12.3% of their weight when analyzing all participants and up to 17% when analyzing those who didn’t discontinue, according to results that were published Monday in the New England Journal of Medicine and will be presented here at the American Diabetes Association meeting.
