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“All I have is sperm,” Akash Bakshi says. “I’m just looking at sperm counts.” Every day the co-founder of YourChoice Therapeutics arrives at his startup’s office in San Francisco to do this work. A biochemist by training, Bakshi could become the first biotech company chief executive officer to bring a hormone-free male birth control pill to market. The pill his team developed, YCT-529, works by blocking a vitamin-A-dependent protein essential for sperm growth, temporarily rendering men infertile without affecting their testosterone levels and thereby potentially introducing related side effects. Phase 1 human clinical trials showed it was well tolerated, and Bakshi says early results in Phase 2, which is focused on both safety and efficacy, are promising. Currently the only widely used forms of contraception available to men are condoms and vasectomies. There’s a substantial potential market for other methods. A 2018 study in Lancet Global Health found that almost half of all pregnancies in the US and worldwide are unintended. Another study, published in 2024 in the journal Contraception, placed the potential US market for new male contraceptives at 7 million to 15.5 million men. And an earlier assessment of the global market, from 2016 in Springer Nature, estimated it...

Sciwind Biosciences' type 2 diabetes treatment Xianyida was approved for use in China, the company said on Friday, adding another participant to a hot sector in the world's second-largest pharmaceutical market. China has the highest number of adults with diabetes in the world, according to estimates, opens new tab from the International Diabetes Federation, and drugmakers including Novo Nordisk (NOVOb.CO), opens new tab, Eli Lilly (LLY.N), opens new tab and Innovent Biologics (1801.HK), opens new tab have launched injectable medicines that are designed to support them. Keep up with the latest medical breakthroughs and healthcare trends with the Reuters Health Rounds newsletter. Sign up here. Hangzhou, China-based Sciwind's injection, which is also known by the name ecnoglutide, belongs to a class of drugs called GLP-1 receptor agonists, which work by helping control blood sugar levels while triggering a feeling of fullness. Sciwind has sought to license ecnoglutide abroad and also applied to sell it in China for weight management. Its CEO, Pan Hai, previously told Reuters that pricing in China would be in line with other approved competitors. Unlike Novo's Ozempic and Lilly's Mounjaro, ecnoglutide will not be covered under China's state-run health insurance scheme for type 2 diabetes treatment. Pan declined to comment...

A play examining the meteoric rise of Danish weight-loss drug giant Novo Nordisk (NOVOb.CO), opens new tab will premiere on Saturday at a theatre outside Copenhagen. "The Golden Calf" tells the story of August and Marie Krogh, the Danish couple who founded Nordisk Insulinlaboratorium in 1923, a precursor to Novo Nordisk that's now valued at $200 billion. The company had a market capitalization larger than the entire Danish economy at its peak and is now battling with U.S. rival Eli Lilly to dominate the global obesity drug market. "It's a piece of our common story about these two scientists who get insulin to Denmark and start this huge snowball that becomes Novo Nordisk," the play's director Nicolei Faber told Reuters, adding the play was made without Novo's involvement. The second part explores the drugmaker's evolution into a global behemoth through its GLP-1 drugs Wegovy for weight-loss and Ozempic treatment for diabetes. The firm became Europe's most valuable in June 2024, before mounting competition and slowing growth led it to announce plans to cut 9,000 jobs globally, including 5,000 in Denmark. "Everybody has some relationship to Novo Nordisk and everybody's pension has stocks in Novo," said Sebastian Henry Aagaard-Williams, an actor in the play, which will...

AstraZeneca (AZN.L), opens new tab will license experimental drugs for obesity and weight-related conditions from CSPC Pharmaceutical Group (1093.HK), opens new tab and collaborate on additional projects, paying $1.2 billion upfront and up to $17.3 billion more if development and sales milestones are met, the Chinese drugmaker said on Friday. The deal is the latest tie-up between the two pharmaceutical giants, following collaboration in areas such as artificial intelligence. It expands AstraZeneca's investment in the growing obesity market led by Western rivals. The British-Swedish drugmaker has also licensed an experimental weight-loss pill from China's EccoGene. CSPC shares were down about 12% in Hong Kong following the announcement. "This reflects the classic 'buy the rumour, sell the news' phenomenon," said Tony Ren, head of Asia healthcare research at Macquarie Capital, adding that investors seemed to be offloading the stock after its 26% surge since January 2. The newly licensed drug candidates from CSPC include SYH2082, a "clinical-ready" product, and three other pre-clinical products in its injectable weight-management portfolio, the company said in a filing to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The agreement covers the development, manufacturing and commercialisation of the candidates. AstraZeneca has been granted a global licence, excluding Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, and mainland China. AstraZeneca...

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals' (REGN.O), opens new tab executives voiced confidence in its experimental weight-loss drug on Friday, saying added cholesterol-lowering benefits could give the company an edge in an increasingly crowded obesity market. Several drugmakers are looking to grab a slice of the potential $150 billion weight-loss drug market, aiming to challenge the dominace of Novo Nordisk's (NOVOb.CO), opens new tab Wegovy and Eli Lilly's (LLY.N), opens new tab Zepbound. Keep up with the latest medical breakthroughs and healthcare trends with the Reuters Health Rounds newsletter. Sign up here. Last year, Regeneron signed an up to $2 billion licensing deal with Hansoh Pharmaceuticals for the experimental drug olatorepatide, which it believes is comparable to Eli Lilly's (LLY.N), opens new tab Zepbound. Regeneron executives said on a post-earnings call the company aims to leverage a "differentiated opportunity" to break into the lucrative sector. "Imagine if someone had invented a new GLP, which in addition to delivering profound weight loss, could also lower bad cholesterol by 50% to 60%, it would create an important and differentiated opportunity for the many obese patients," said Chief Scientific Officer George Yancopoulos. This year, the company plans to start late-stage trials of the drug for obesity in patients with and without Type...

Eli Lilly (LLY.N), opens new tab announced on Friday that it will build a pharmaceutical manufacturing facility in Pennsylvania, its fourth new site in an effort to expand U.S. production and bolster medical supply chains. The $3.5 billion plant will make Lilly's injectable weight-loss medications, including retatrutide, the company said in a statement. That next-generation obesity drug has outperformed Lilly's blockbuster drug Zepbound. Drugmakers are rushing to expand U.S. production as President Donald Trump has threatened to impose import tariffs on pharmaceutical products. Companies including Lilly, Pfizer, and Merck have pledged billions in domestic investment to avoid penalties. Lilly said last year that it would invest over $27 billion in four new U.S. manufacturing sites, and has said it will expand production at others. "All these sites, including this one, will be really state of the art manufacturing to last many decades to come," said Lilly CEO David Ricks at a Friday press conference in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Lilly, the world's most valuable drugmaker by market value, has been racing against Danish rival Novo Nordisk (NOVOb.CO), opens new tab to meet surging demand for GLP-1 weight-loss drugs. The company plans to launch its much-anticipated weight-loss pill in several countries at a $150-a-month cash price as...

Indian drugmakers Sun Pharmaceutical Industries (SUN.NS), opens new tab, Zydus Lifesciences (ZYDU.NS), opens new tab and Alkem Laboratories (ALKE.NS), opens new tab have received approval from India's regulator to manufacture and sell generic versions of blockbuster weight-loss and diabetes drugs Wegovy and Ozempic. Data on the regulator's website show Zydus Lifesciences (ZYDU.NS), opens new tab and Alkem Laboratories (ALKE.NS), opens new tab received approval last week to manufacture and sell generic semaglutide for weight-loss and diabetes treatment, intensifying competition in the obesity-drug race in the world's most populous nation. Make sense of the latest ESG trends affecting companies and governments with the Reuters Sustainable Switch newsletter. Sign up here. The companies, which are yet to announce the approval, did not immediately respond to Reuters' request for a comment. Sun Pharma, which is India's largest drugmaker by revenue, on Friday announced that it had been granted approval and would be launching generics under brand names Noveltreat for obesity and Sematrinity for diabetes. Semaglutide, the active ingredient in Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk's (NOVOb.CO), opens new tab Wegovy and its diabetes drug Ozempic, is set for patent expiry in March 2026. The upcoming patent expiry for semaglutide opens the door for Indian generic drugmakers to enter the weight-loss...

Novo Nordisk spent nearly $500 million on U.S. advertising for its GLP-1 drugs Wegovy and Ozempic in the first nine months of 2025, more than double what Eli Lilly shelled out for its rival medicines, as the Danish drugmaker fought for market share, data seen by Reuters shows. The data from advertising tracking firm MediaRadar, which has not been previously reported, shows Novo spent an estimated $316 million advertising its weight-loss drug Wegovy in the U.S. and $169 million on diabetes medication Ozempic from January through September last year. That's up 54% and 44%, respectively from the same period in 2024. Indianapolis-based market leader Eli Lilly spent about $131 million advertising obesity treatment Zepbound in the same period versus $2 million in 2024. It spent $83 million promoting diabetes medicine Mounjaro. Combined, Novo spent about $487 million and Lilly an estimated $214 million on U.S. ads for these drugs. The companies declined to comment on their advertising budgets. It is not known how much Novo plans to spend on advertising its new pill version of Wegovy. David Moore, Novo's executive vice president of U.S. operations, said the company plans to advertise the pill immediately and push sales through its cash-pay, direct-to-consumer channels. Insurance coverage in...

U.S. drugmaker Eli Lilly signed an agreement worth up to $1.12 billion with Seamless Therapeutics, the Germany-based startup said on Wednesday, to develop and commercialize ‌treatments for hearing loss using the biotech's gene-editing platform. The deal will give Lilly access to its proprietary technology to design specially engineered enzymes to correct certain gene mutations linked to hearing loss. These enzymes, called programmable recombinases, are designed to make large, precise changes to DNA at specific locations without relying on the cell's own DNA ⁠repair pathway. Lilly would oversee the development from preclinical testing through to commercialization. The deal is a "way for us to work with the platform, with a partner, but continue our own internal program," Seamless CEO Albert Seymour told Reuters in an interview. He said the company is open to similar partnerships beyond Lilly.

Corcept Therapeutics (CORT.O), opens new tab said on Thursday a late-stage trial showed its experimental drug in combination with chemotherapy helped reduce the risk of death in patients with a type of ovarian cancer. Shares of the drugmaker rose 25% in premarket trading. Patients who received the drug, relacorilant, in combination with chemotherapy achieved a 35% reduction in the risk of death compared to those treated with chemotherapy alone, Corcept said. Last year, the drug combination had helped delay progression of the cancer, meeting another main goal of the study. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is set to decide on the drug combination as a treatment for patients with platinum-resistant ovarian cancer by July 11. The study tested relacorilant plus the chemotherapy drug nab-paclitaxel against nab-paclitaxel alone in 381 women, whose cancer had stopped responding to standard platinum-based treatments. Patients who received the combination lived for 16 months on average, compared to 11.9 months for those on chemotherapy alone, the company said. The drug combination also delayed the time before the disease worsened, with a 30% reduction in the risk of progression. Corcept said the combination was well tolerated and did not lead to more side effects than chemotherapy alone. Relacorilant is taken orally and works by...