(Reuters) -U.S. drugmaker Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) is going "all in" to develop its experimental obesity drug and has been recruiting more experts in that area, Chief Executive Officer Albert Bourla said at the JPMorgan Healthcare Conference on Monday.
Bourla said the experts were helping Pfizer "make better and more sound decisions," and the company could start a late-stage study of its drug, danuglipron, in the second half of this year.
Pfizer is testing multiple doses of once-a-day version of its weight-loss pill, after scrapping development of a twice-daily version of the drug in late 2023.
"At this point, I'm very cautious with danu," Bourla said at the ongoing industry conference in San Francisco, adding that after a lot of experiments Pfizer expects to have data from dose-testing studies "in a few months."
Through the drug, Pfizer aims to offer patients a more convenient alternative to injectable drugs — Eli Lilly (NYSE:LLY)'s Zepbound and Novo Nordisk (NYSE:NVO)'s — that currently dominate the weight-loss treatment market.
Lilly and Novo are also developing their own oral treatments. Some analysts expect the market for these drugs to be worth more than $150 billion in annual sales by the early 2030s.
"We expect that we'll have a competitive profile," Bourla said, adding that Pfizer's pill could be the second to market after Eli Lilly's if the company is able to meet its timeline.
Acquiring an injectable GLP-1 drug would not be in Pfizer's interest because "probably it's a little bit too late," Bourla said, referring to Wegovy and Zepbound's class of treatments that target the receptors for an appetite- and blood sugar-reducing hormone called GLP-1.
But the company was "looking at everything" beyond that class — including injectable and oral drugs with a different mechanism — for acquisitions, Bourla said, because Pfizer has the "capabilities to develop it and to sell it."