Pfizer's demand for more obesity drugs prompts $150 million Chinese oral GLP-1 drug deal
Fresh off its acquisition of metabolic drug developer Metsera, Pfizer is once again turning to deals to expand its pipeline of obesity drugs, this time opting for an experimental oral drug that could become part of a portfolio with other assets in the pharma giant's pipeline.
The drug YP05002 comes from Yaoyou Pharmaceutical, a subsidiary of Shanghai Fosun Pharma. Under the terms of the deal announced Tuesday, Pfizer will pay $150 million upfront for global rights to the asset, which is currently in early clinical development.
YP05002 is an orally administered small molecule designed to activate GLP-1. Pfizer's efforts to develop an oral small molecule targeting this target have been unsuccessful. Last year, the company halted development of danuglipron after safety signals emerged in a phase 1 study.
Leerink Partners analyst David Risinger said in a report to investors that as far as he knows, the chemical scaffold of YaoPharma's drug is similar to orforglipron, an oral obesity drug led by Eli Lilly and Company. It has been developed in Phase 3 and is currently submitting an application to the FDA. The similarity to Eli Lilly's drug could avoid the safety flags raised with Danuglipron.
Despite discontinuing danuglipron, Pfizer continues to develop other obesity drug candidates. PF-07976016 is an oral small molecule designed to block GIP receptors and is currently in Phase 2 development. Pfizer said it plans to test YaoPharma's drug in combination with PF-07976016 and other small molecules in its pipeline.
“We look forward to contributing our expertise and resources to the continued development of this investigational GLP-1 small molecule, which complements and strengthens our growing portfolio of novel drug candidates to treat obesity and its related diseases,” Chris Boshoff, Pfizer's chief scientific officer and president of research and development, said in a prepared statement.
YaoPharma's YP05002 is currently being evaluated in a Phase 1 single-dose and ascending multi-dose study with a target enrollment of 76 healthy volunteers. Data is expected to be released in April 2026. Pfizer reached an agreement with YaoPharma that requires the Shanghai-based biotech company to complete a Phase 1 clinical trial. In addition to the upfront payment, Pfizer can also pay YaoPharma up to $1.9 billion in milestone payments and royalties on sales after the drug is launched.
Other companies have made further progress in the development of oral obesity drugs. One of the companies, Structure Therapeutics, reported preliminary Phase 2b data on Monday showing that its GLP-1 receptor small molecule agonist, now named alenglipron (formerly GSBR-1290), reduced body weight by an average of 11.3%. The results at 36 weeks were the highest of the three doses tested. The most common adverse reactions are gastrointestinal reactions, which are consistent with all GLP-1 drugs. Discontinuation rates for all doses ranged from 7.7% to 13.3%.
William Blair analyst Andy Hsieh acknowledged all the caveats in the cross-trial comparisons in a Monday research note, saying alenglipron's weight loss was comparable to Phase 2 results for Eli Lilly's orforglipron, making Structure's drug competitive. But he also noted that the incidence of vomiting and nausea for Structure's drug was higher than the rates reported for Eli Lilly's drug.
Structure said alenglipron's trial data supports advancing the small molecule into Phase 3 testing, which is scheduled to begin in mid-2026. The results of the trial sent Structure's stock price soaring about 100% on Monday. Hsieh said the stock price movement may be due to expectations for M&A deals, especially after Metsera's public bidding war. Structure is taking advantage of the rising stock price with a proposed $500 million stock offering.
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