The biotech company working on the nasal spray for weight loss has announced when it wants to finish clinical trials
Using a nasal spray at home (illustrative image), PHOTO: Shutterstock
Chinese biotech company Shanghai Shiling Pharmaceutical said it aims to complete global clinical trials by 2028 for an experimental weight management spray that uses the same active ingredient as Novo Nordisk's anti-obesity drug Wegovy, Reuters reports.
Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk, its American rival Eli Lilly and Chinese company Innovent Biologics are fighting for market share in China.
Patients in the world's second-largest pharmaceutical market are now turning to highly effective once-weekly injections such as Wegovy, which has semaglutide as its active ingredient. This is also the active ingredient in Ozempic, Novo Nordisk's diabetes treatment, which has the side effect of weight loss.
Shiling Pharmaceutical said in a statement to Reuters on Tuesday that its semaglutide nasal spray, under development, would be particularly suitable for long-term use and that it would cost less than tablets containing semaglutide.
Pharmaceutical companies have launched a “race” to develop weight loss drugs
Novo Nordisk this year received approval in the US to sell its treatment Wegovy also in tablet form. Being able to treat obesity with a tablet represents a significant advance in weight management, making it much easier for patients to take such a drug compared to the injections Wegovy launched with.
Eli Lilly is also expected to receive US Food and Drug Administration approval by the summer for its oral drug, for now called orforglipron pending a trade name.
Shiling Pharmaceutical, on the other hand, also states that, after the studies are completed, it plans to launch its semaglutide spray on major pharmaceutical markets. The Chinese company said it holds patents in China, the United States, Europe and Southeast Asia.
Novo, whose patent for the ingredient semaglutide is set to expire in China in March, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Some Chinese pharmaceutical manufacturers are also developing their own versions of Wegovy in anticipation of the patent expiring.
