This Big Pharma Could Become a Leading Weight-Loss Stock. Should You Buy It?
Watch out, Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly. Per some new clinical-trial data it published on July 17, the massive Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche Holding (OTC: RHHBY) might have a winning weight-loss pill on its hands. But is it reasonable to expect the stock to perform well enough to warrant buying? Let's investigate.
First things first. Appreciate that Roche's weight-loss pill program is currently in phase 1 clinical trials. The first two parts of the three-part trial are done, and the third hasn't started yet. It will need plenty more research and development (R&D) work before it's ready to submit to regulators for approval, assuming it ever is. Any early results may or may not be substantiated by subsequent clinical investigations.
With that being said, Roche's data snapshot from late in phase 1 makes its candidate, CT-996, look like a winner. Over a span of just four weeks, patients in the trial who were treated with CT-996 experienced an average weight loss of 6.1% of their body mass beyond what was experienced by patients given a placebo. Zero patients discontinued treatment due to the side effects. The icing on the cake was that the concentration of the molecule in patients' blood did not seem to be significantly impacted by the patients having a meal or not right before taking their pill.
Source Fool.com