Obesity is a major public health concern with a significant impact on morbidity, mortality, and healthcare costs worldwide. The obesity therapeutics market is expected to grow as the prevalence of obesity increases, but it is also facing considerable unmet needs. Despite the anticipated arrival of novel therapies in the next decade, major opportunities remain for pharmaceutical companies to develop drugs for obesity that are longer acting, according to a report by GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

GlobalData’s latest report, “Obesity: Seven-Market Drug Forecast and Market Analysis,” reveals that one of the key unmet needs in the obesity space is for longer-acting therapies.

According to GlobalData, the launch of Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy (semaglutide) across the 5EU (France, Germany Italy, Spain, and the UK), coupled with the anticipated launch of Eli Lilly’s tirzepatide across the seven major markets (7MM: the US, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the UK, and Japan), already serve to address some of the unmet needs within the obesity space, through their superior efficacies to the only other GLP-1RA therapy on the market, Novo Nordisk’s Saxenda.

Sara Reci, Senior Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy is longer acting in comparison to Novo Nordisk’s Saxenda. However, KOLs interviewed by GlobalData highlighted the need to develop therapies with lower frequencies of administration, as therapies with the lowest frequency of administration in the obesity space still require administration on a weekly basis. Furthermore, GlobalData’s primary research revealed that many people are not keen on or will not be able to tolerate receiving a weekly injection.”

Another significant unmet need in the obesity market is the availability and accessibility of specialists. This is an important obstacle that needs to be overcome to optimize coverage for obesity. Factors that can negatively influence access to specialists include the lack of access to and fragmentation of weight management services, associated costs, lack of time, and the stigma that surrounds obesity.

KOLs interviewed by GlobalData highlighted that health inequality has a massive impact on obesity, and that clinical trials therefore do not accurately reflect the obese population, particularly patients who are more socially deprived or patients from different socioeconomic backgrounds.

KOLs further emphasized the need for social care support, psychologists, and lifestyle experts in addition to pharmacotherapy. Improved awareness of the risks of obesity and disease progression may also help improve access to resources and treatment available for patients with obesity.

Reci concludes: “While the late-stage pipeline for obesity is giving rise to a range of promising therapies, namely Eli Lilly’s tirzepatide, orforglipron, and triple-G agonist, retatrutide, as well as Novo Nordisk’s CagriSema and NN-9932, the need for therapies which are longer acting, and improved availability and accessibility of specialists are yet to be met.”