AstraZeneca recently announced its strategy for the cardiometabolic market, in particular treating obesity and its comorbidities, by combining the glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist (GLP-1RA) therapy that the company recently acquired from Eccogene (ECC5004) with its cardio-metabolic therapies such as sodium-glucose co-transporter-2 (SGLT2) inhibitor Farxiga (dapagliflozin). The company intends to combine ECC5004 with treatments in its cardio pipeline and look to develop therapies that address the comorbidities associated with obesity. The oral GLP-1 combination is expected to face an increasingly competitive comorbidities space in the obesity market, says GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

It has long been known that patients with obesity often have additional comorbidities such as hypertension, type 2 diabetes (T2D), metabolic syndrome, or cardio-renal disease. However, the comorbidities space in the obesity market is becoming highly competitive, with Lilly’s Mounjaro having potential use for cardiovascular disease and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) and Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy recently demonstrating a significant reduction in the incidence of heart attack, stroke, or death from heart disease.

Akash Patel, Pharma Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “There are significant opportunities for AstraZeneca in T2D and hypertension, and with an increasing incidence of obesity, it can become a market leader in addressing these diseases. The development of a combinatorial regimen is still some years away, and in the immediate future, Lilly and Novo Nordisk will dominate the obesity market and continually compete to become the leaders in this space with their GLP-1RA therapies.”

AstraZeneca’s ECC5004 GLP-1RA therapy is currently in Phase I, with the company reporting Phase II will start rapidly in the next several months. With Farxiga’s dominance in the SGLT-2I space, a combination with GLP-1RA will have significant benefits for treating the comorbidities of obesity.

Patel concludes: “AstraZeneca has the potential to develop a market-leading oral therapy that addresses multiple cardiometabolic diseases, including obesity and cardio-renal disease, and as a result become a preferred therapy for physicians when treating patients with complex comorbidities.”