Survodutide

Taylor Tieden for BioSpace Obesity-focused Zealand Pharma is buying into Generate:Biomedicines’s generative AI platform to create new multispecific drug candidates. Zealand Pharma is enlisting Generate:Biomedicines and its AI-driven drug design platform to develop treatments for weight loss and metabolic conditions in a deal that could reach up to $1.2 billion. The agreement, announced Tuesday , includes a $30 million upfront payment from Zealand, plus up to $35 million in early preclinical milestones. Generate could collect almost $1.2 billion in total development, regulatory and commercial milestones, plus tiered royalties on sales of any alliance asset that reaches the market. For its investment, Danish biopharma Zealand gains access to Generate’s generative AI platform to design new protein therapeutics for obesity and other metabolic diseases. Generate will be responsible for all research activities through candidate selection, while Zealand will take charge of clinical development, as well as regulatory and commercialization activities. With one of the most mature pipelines among its peers, Generate is at the leading edge of a growing class of drugmakers using generative AI to design drugs. Founded in 2018 by Flagship Pioneering, the biotech’s approach “infers generalizable principles of biology” to design potentially therapeutic molecules targeting some of the most difficult-to-crack conditions, according to the company’s website . Massachusetts-based Generate went public in February with $425 million—money meant to support the Phase 3 development of its anti-TSLP therapy GB-0895 for severe asthma. GB-0895, which is also in early-stage studies for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), was designed using the company’s generative AI platform. Phase 1 data disclosed last month showed that a single subcutaneous injection of GB-0895 led to “rapid and sustained reductions” in asthma biomarkers through six months of follow-up. The anti-TSLP antibody likewise lowered disease biomarkers in COPD. Tolerability, the study’s primary outcome , was also favorable, with treatment-emergent adverse events balanced between GB-0895 and placebo groups. Generate’s pipeline also includes two cancer candidates: the MMAE-targeting antibody GB-4362 and the armored CAR T therapy GB-5267. Both are in early-stage development. Generate also has platform collaborations with Novartis and Amgen, through which the AI drugmaker will design novel therapies for a host of confidential programs. IPO Generate Arrives on Nasdaq Ready To Finally Show the World AI-Powered Medicines Generate:Biomedicines has hit the public markets as the world begins to question the usefulness of AI technology. CEO Mike Nally says biology is the key to unlocking the technology’s full potential. March 2, 2026 · 3 min read · Annalee Armstrong Read more For Zealand, the Generate agreement comes after an underwhelming readout last week for the long-acting amylin analog petrelintide. In the Phase 2 ZUPREME-2 study, which assessed weight loss at 28 weeks, patients on petrelintide saw up to a 9.2% mean weight loss versus 2% for placebo comparators. A total of 220 patients with obesity or overweight who also had type 2 diabetes were enrolled in the study. While ZUPREME-2 hit its main goal, analysts at William Blair said they were “disappointed” that petrelintide did not elicit greater weight loss. Also leaving analysts wanting was the reduction in A1c, a measure of average blood sugar levels—the drug reduced A1c by up to 0.65% versus a 0.23% increase in placebo. William Blair at the time pointed to A1c reductions seen with rival therapies such as Eli Lilly’s Zepbound and Novo’s Wegovy ranging from 1.3% to 2.1%. Petrelintide is being developed in collaboration with Roche, which in March 2025 paid $1.65 billion upfront to license the asset and study it with the pharma’s own obesity candidate CT-388. The partners in September launched the Phase 3 ZUPREME program for petrelintide, aiming to enroll around 7,000 patients total. Earlier this month, Zealand reported another obesity disappointment, this time for the Boehringer Ingelheim–partnered survodutide. The companies touted up to 13.1% weight loss at 76 weeks in patients taking the glucagon/GLP-1 receptor dual agonist—findings that investors found underwhelming, sending Zealand’s shares down 8% in the aftermath. Boehringer licensed survodutide from Zealand in 2011. Weight loss Despite Zealand asset’s ‘intriguing’ weight loss, analysts underwhelmed by blood sugar numbers For the second time in a week, Zealand Pharma’s weight loss pipeline has delivered mixed results, this time in a Phase 2 trial for the Roche-partnered asset petrelintide. October 8, 2026 · 4 min read · Annalee Armstrong Read more

iStock, Marharyta Kovalchuk For the second time in a week, Zealand Pharma’s weight loss pipeline has delivered mixed results, this time in a Phase 2 trial for the Roche-partnered asset petrelintide. Zealand Pharma’s Roche-partnered obesity asset cut weight to a degree William Blair analysts dubbed “intriguing,” but the asset “underwhelmed” on blood sugar reduction for diabetes. The mid-stage readout was the second from Zealand’s pipeline of next-gen weight loss assets to disappoint investors in a week. In the Phase 2 ZUPREME-2 trial, petrelintide, a long-acting human amylin analog, achieved up to 9.2% mean weight loss at week 28 depending on the dose, compared to just 2% for placebo comparators, according to Zealand’s Thursday press release . The study, which featured 220 patients with obesity or overweight who also had type 2 diabetes (T2D), therefore hit its primary endpoint of statistically significant and clinically meaningful reductions in body weight at that time point, compared to placebo. The results—which were based on efficacy estimand, or the estimated treatment effect assuming patients remained on treatment for the duration of the study—are in line with Eli Lilly’s rival amylin receptor agonist eloralintide and the approved GLP-1 Zepbound, William Blair analysts said in a Wednesday afternoon note. Both of those drugs achieved about 7% placebo-adjusted weight loss at the same time point, according to the firm. Meanwhile, Zealand’s asset outperformed Novo’s Wegovy, which notched 4–5% weight loss in that time frame. Nevertheless, William Blair analysts said they were “disappointed” the asset did not yield greater weight loss. Moreover, petrelintide only reduced A1C, a measure of average blood sugar levels that is used as key marker of disease control in T2D, at a rate of up to 0.65% compared to an increase of 0.23% for placebo participants, according to Zealand’s release. The aforementioned rival therapies achieved A1C reductions within a range of 1.3%–2.1%, William Blair said. The firm was also concerned by the increase seen in the placebo arm, which is “unusual in the context of obesity and/or T2D studies.” On a more positive note, safety results were as expected, leaving William Blair with continued conviction in the asset’s differentiated tolerability profile. Gastrointestinal-related adverse events did crop up, but most were mild and occurred during the escalation period, and resulted in a discontinuation rate due of just 1.9% of participants in the treatment arm, versus 1.7% of those taking placebo. The therapy seems to provide “an improved treatment experience” over approved weight loss drugs like Wegovy and Zepbound, the analysts said. “Overall, based on the collective Phase II ZUPREME-1 and ZUPREME-2 trial results, we believe petrelintide demonstrated highly encouraging tolerability, though the magnitude of weight loss (along with HbA1c reduction in ZUPREME-2) disappointed,” William Blair wrote. “Our current view is that petrelintide will likely be used primarily in the maintenance setting, which demands a therapeutic intervention that exhibits placebo-like tolerability for chronic use.” Petrelintide could also find a foothold in the overweight segment of the market, helping these patients lose weight without safety concerns and improve cardiovascular risk, the firm added. The ZUPREME-2 reveal comes a week after Zealand and partner Boehringer Ingelheim reported disappointing Phase 3 weight loss results for the glucagon/GLP-1 receptor dual agonist survodutide. Similar to the new petrelintide readout, survodutide underperformed expectations. The company reported weight loss of up to 13.1% at 76 weeks, but an adjacent publication in The New England Journal of Medicine put the value at 9.8% for patients who received the highest dose. Shares of Zealand dropped more than 8% to $248.50 on the Danish market following last week’s results, and trended further down today, resting at around $240 as of publication. Obesity Zealand dips as Boehringer Ingelheim-partnered weight loss drug fails to impress—again Despite meeting the primary endpoints in a Phase 3 trial, shares of Zealand Pharma dropped in premarket trading Thursday as the up to 9.8% weight loss reflected inferior loss to that generated by competitors. October 1, 2026 · 2 min read · Heather McKenzie Read more The mixed results won’t hold back petrelintide, however. Zealand and Roche recently kicked off a Phase 3a program for the asset. ZUPREME-3, ZUPREME-4 and ZUPREME-5 will include 7,000 patients with obesity or overweight without T2D, with T2D and with cardiovascular disease, respectively. But after a busy few weeks of readouts, investors will have to wait a while for the next big catalyst for Zealand, William Blair pointed out. The company does have a strong cash position, share buyback program and a deep pipeline. “While we believe these factors should support long‑term value creation and eventual share price appreciation, the lack of meaningful catalysts within the next year that could alter investor sentiment on petrelintide limits near-term upside and supports a more balanced risk/reward profile,” the firm wrote. Roche licensed petrelintide in March 2025 to pair with its own dual GLP-1/GIP receptor agonist CT-388. The deal offered Zealand $1.65 billion upfront, while the total deal value, including milestones and other payments, could reach $5.3 billion.