Roche Expands Obesity Drug Pipeline with New Strategies and Potential Direct-to-Patient Sales

Roche, a major pharmaceutical company, is making big moves in the obesity drug market. Earlier this year, they partnered with Zealand Pharma in a deal worth over $5 billion. This follows their $2.7 billion acquisition of Carmot Therapeutics in 2023, which gave them access to promising obesity treatments. Now, Roche is sharing more details about their plans, including potential direct-to-patient sales. Roche’s lead obesity drug, CT-388, is an injectable treatment that works on two key hormones (GLP-1 and GIP) to help with weight loss and diabetes. In early trials, patients lost an average of 18.8% of their body weight over six months. Roche plans to start larger, final-stage trials for this drug later this year. They also want to combine CT-388 with another drug, petrelintide, which is still in early testing. Roche’s CEO, Teresa Graham, said they expect to start these combination studies in 2026. However, they recently dropped another drug, CT-173, which was meant to control appetite. After reviewing its potential, Roche decided it wasn’t the best option. Roche is also working on an oral version of a GLP-1 drug, which could be a simpler option for patients. Despite dropping one drug, Graham remains confident in their obesity treatment portfolio. Roche is also looking at selling drugs directly to patients, following the example of companies like Pfizer, Eli Lilly, and Novo Nordisk. These companies offer some medications at lower prices through direct-to-patient platforms, which aligns with a U.S. policy aimed at reducing drug costs. Roche’s CEO mentioned they are considering a similar approach for their obesity drugs. The company is in discussions with the U.S. government about this. While they haven’t finalized plans, they see potential in this model for their future treatments. Overall, Roche is positioning itself as a major player in the obesity drug market with a strong pipeline and new strategies for patient access.

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