Merck Targets Cardiometabolic Revolution with Cutting-Edge Drug Advances
Merck is pursuing next-generation cardiometabolic drug opportunities, focusing on small-molecule oral treatments with potential benefits beyond weight loss, including improvements in cardiovascular and diabetes outcomes.
Merck is concentrating on second- and third-generation opportunities in the cardiometabolic drugs market, including weight-loss treatments, the company announced on Tuesday. "We think more in terms of small-molecule orals, versus injectables. That's the preferred route," stated CEO Robert Davis at the Goldman Sachs Global Healthcare Conference. Merck is exploring market opportunities with potential benefits of weight-loss treatments through drug combinations with "good tolerability and good combinability." Davis' remarks on Tuesday echoed those from January, when he mentioned that demonstrating outcomes for cardiovascular, diabetes, and other conditions beyond weight management would facilitate insurance reimbursements for drugs. The weight-loss drug market is projected to reach approximately $150 billion in annual global sales by the early 2030s and is currently led by Novo Nordisk's Wegovy and Eli Lilly's Zepbound, both of which belong to the GLP-1 class. GLP-1 drugs, which help slow digestion and reduce hunger by inducing a feeling of fullness, are being studied for their potential to improve health in other ways. Merck stated earlier this year that it was pursuing GLP-1 treatments with benefits beyond weight loss as the company develops its own candidate, efinopegdutide, for metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH). The experimental drug demonstrated a "compelling" weight-loss benefit, the company reported last year. "We're very interested in the sub-segments of GLP biology that's related to MASH," said Dean Li, president of Merck Research Laboratories.
