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AstraZeneca is the latest player to enter the weight loss drug arena, a market which some analysts have forecasted could reach $100 billion by 2030 . On Thursday, the biopharma company announced it had entered a licensing agreement with Eccogene for ECC5004, an oral glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor agonist. The drug, which could combat medical conditions such as diabetes and obesity, would be a novel introduction since current anti-obesity drugs are all delivered via a weekly injection. The GLP-1 drug market is currently dominated by two players: Novo Nordisk , which sells Type 2 diabetes treatment Ozempic and weight loss medication Wegovy, and Eli Lilly , which sells Mounjaro as a treatment for Type 2 diabetes. Lilly just had the weight loss version of its drug, Zepbound , approved by the Food and Drug Administration. Both Lilly and Novo Nordisk are also working on oral anti-obesity medications. With more than 40% of U.S. adults having obesity , according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, analysts have said that the market is large enough to support multiple players. It’s still early days for AstraZeneca’s ECC5004 drug, which is being assessed in a U.S.-based phase 1 trial involving patients with Type 2 diabetes. Through the licensing agreement, AstraZeneca will pay Eccogene $185 million upfront, and up to $1.825 billion through future milestones and royalties on sales. AstraZeneca also receives all exclusive global rights for the drug, except for the Chinese market. U.S.-traded shares of AstraZeneca have slid 5% so far this year. Upon Thursday’s news, shares of AstraZeneca popped more than 1%. In the near term, UBS analyst Colin White expects a “mildly positive reaction” to the stock due to the licensing agreement and its guidance raise on total revenue growth and core earnings per share. AZN 1D mountain AZN 1D stock chart The partnership spells a rosy outlook ahead for shares of AstraZeneca, especially given the biopharma’ company’s portfolio of existing drugs, according to Wall Street analysts. “The asset broadens Astra’s existing obesity pipeline, including the GLP-1/glucagon dual agonist [AZD9550] and long-acting amylin analogue [AZD6234],” wrote JPMorgan Cazenove analyst James Gordon. He currently rates AstraZeneca stock as overweight. “ECC5004 is reported to have high bioavailability, encouraging efficacy at low doses, has a wide therapeutic window potentially without the need for dose titration and has the potential to be combined with other orally administered drugs across the AstraZeneca portfolio to treat obesity and obesity-related comorbidities,” said Morgan Stanley analyst Mark Purcell. AstraZeneca’s Farxiga, for instance, treats Type 2 diabetes. Purcell listed shares of AstraZeneca at an overweight rating, calling the name a “top pick.” — CNBC’s Michael Bloom and Christina Cheddar-Berk contributed to this report.
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