Zealand Pharma shares surge on liver disease drug trial data

Feb 26,2024

Frankfurt: Shares in Zealand Pharma jumped 22 per cent on Monday after an experimental drug it is developing with Boehringer Ingelheim yielded "groundbreaking" mid-stage trial results in the treatment of fatty liver.

The study is channelling investor attention to a related disease area within a global race for new obesity treatments.

The trial testing the drug survodutide to treat the liver disease metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis, or MASH, met its primary and key secondary endpoints, the two companies said in a statement.

By 0952 GMT, Zealand's stock was at a record high and was the best performer on the STOXX Europe 600, which was down 0.3 per cent.

Seeking to challenge obesity treatment market leaders Novo Nordisk  and Eli Lilly, Zealand and unlisted Boehringer in June 2023 reported promising phase 2 weight-loss trial results, with the largest and most expensive final stage of testing still to be cleared.

Germany's family-owned Boehringer and Denmark's Zealand said on Monday that up to 83 per cent of trial participants treated with survodutide saw their MASH improve, compared with 18.2 per cent in a comparable group on a placebo.

Details of the trial will be presented at an as yet undisclosed medical conference during the first half of the year, they added.

The liver condition, which used to be called non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, results from an often diet related build-up of fat in the liver, causing inflammation and scarring.

 Affecting an estimated 115 million people worldwide, it is targeted by several other drugmakers as additional uses for their new obesity drugs.

Source: Healthworld