Weight-loss drugs in spotlight as pharma services firms rush to snap up business

Oct 27,2023

Barcelona: Soaring demand for obesity drugs was in the spotlight at the world's largest trade show for the pharmaceutical services industry this week, as it fuels a boom for firms that fill and assemble the self-injection pens.

A surge in sales of Novo Nordisk's drug Wegovy, which launched in the United States in mid-2021, has propelled the Danish drugmaker to become Europe's most valuable company.Amid a global obesity crisis, some analysts predict the market for weight-loss drugs could be worth $100 billion by 2030. Some companies, like West Pharmaceutical Services, whose share price is up 37 per cent year to date, are already providing components for the injections pens and reaping rich rewards from the business.

U S rival Eli Lilly has become the world's most valuable healthcare firm this year as demand for its diabetes drug Mounjaro surges ahead of approval for its use as a weight-loss treatment in the United States, expected by the end of this year.

Amid a global obesity crisis, some analysts predict the market for weight-loss drugs could be worth $100 billion by 2030. Some companies, like West Pharmaceutical Services, whose share price is up 37 per cent year to date, are already providing components for the injections pens and reaping rich rewards from the business. Other companies specialising in parts of the manufacturing process for the injections are vying to get a bigger foothold by scaling up their capacity.

Wegovy and Mounjaro, both administered once weekly, are part of a class of drugs called GLP-1 receptor agonists originally developed for type 2 diabetes, which suppress appetite.

"Having capacity to serve GLP-1 manufacturing demand now is gold, and there is a little bit of an arms race to capture that market share," Tommy Erdei, a senior healthcare investment banker at Jeffries, said ahead of the CPHI trade show, held in Barcelona this week.

The specialist process of filling the syringes used in the pens, called aseptic or sterile fill-finish, is particularly in demand.

Source: HealthWorld