On September 7, 2022, Eli Lilly's application for the marketing of glucose-dependent insulin-stimulating polypeptide (GIP) and glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor dual agonist Mounjaro(tipotide injection) was accepted by NMPA, indicating that this blockbuster in the field of glucose lowering will soon enter the Chinese market.
A week later, on September 15, the CDE website revealed that telpotide had been approved for weight loss. Novo Nordisk, also a global leader in the field of diabetes treatment, received the first clinical approval of oral semaglutide for weight loss in China on September 6.
As the proportion of obese people continues to rise worldwide, the improvement of overweight has attracted more and more attention, and the GLP-1 receptor (GLP-1R) target is becoming the mainstream direction of the development of weight-loss drugs.
At present, there are many short-acting (exenatide, liraglutide, etc.) and long-acting (abirlutide, Duraglutide, Semaglutide, etc.) GLP-1RA drugs on the market in the world, among which the main indication is type 2 diabetes in adults, and only two approved indications for weight loss are Liraglutide and Semaglutide.
The domestic development of GLP-1RA has also developed to the stage of dual target agonist.
According to the combined target, there are three main combinations as follows:
GCG/GLP1R: There are three companies: Boehringer Ingelheim, Cinda Biochem and Astrazeneca, among which Boehringer Ingelheim's BI456906 injection and Cinda Biochem's IBI362 have both progressed to clinical phase 2;
GIP/GLP1R: There are also 3 companies in this target portfolio, including Eli Lilly Pharmaceutical, Hansen Pharmaceutical and Hongyun Huaining. Among them, Eli Lilly is far ahead in the development of telpotide injection, which has submitted the application for listing in China.
FGF21/GLP1R: This target combination is only distributed in Dongyangyao, which is currently in phase 1 clinical study.
With the rapid development of Chinese economy, the residents' lifestyle and diet structure have undergone remarkable changes, and the overweight and obesity rate of adult and adolescent residents have risen year by year. GLP-1 drugs have good dual effects of hypoglycemia and weight loss, and the demand potential is huge. According to Deppon Securities, the peak sales of GLP-1 drugs in obesity and weight loss in China is expected to exceed 40 billion yuan!
