Peptide News Digest

Novo Licenses Hengrui Oral GLP-1/GIP Drug, Petrelintide ZUPREME-1 in The Lancet, Semaglutide Pancreatic Cancer Safety Data

Novo pays $300M upfront for Hengrui's oral HRS-1596, petrelintide Phase 2 data are published, and a Nordic study finds no semaglutide-pancreatic cancer link.

6 stories · Covering industry, clinical-trials, research

Editor's Note

On the second day of EASD, Novo kept buying convenience: five days after licensing Nanexa's long-acting injectable coating, it paid $300 million upfront for Hengrui's HRS-1596, a GLP-1/GIP agonist meant to be taken by mouth once a week. Much of the day's meeting data came from company-funded analyses that rivals are using against each other. A Novo claims study favored escalating semaglutide over switching to tirzepatide, and a Lilly indirect comparison favored Foundayo over oral semaglutide; neither replaces a head-to-head trial. The safety news was steadier: an EMA-required Nordic registry study of about 97,000 matched pairs found no increase in pancreatic cancer with semaglutide, though follow-up was short. Outside the GLP-1 class, Zealand's amylin analog petrelintide had its Phase 2 results published in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology, and MSD moved a peptide formulated with Cyprumed's oral delivery technology into its first human trial.

Industry

Novo Licenses Hengrui's Once-Weekly Oral GLP-1/GIP Agonist HRS-1596 for $300 Million Upfront in a Deal Worth Up to $2.6 Billion

Novo and Jiangsu Hengrui Pharmaceuticals announced on Tuesday, September 29, 2026 an exclusive license giving Novo global rights to HRS-1596, a GLP-1/GIP dual receptor agonist being developed for once-weekly oral dosing, outside mainland China, Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan, where Hengrui keeps the rights. Novo will pay $300 million upfront, and the deal is worth up to $2.6 billion including development, regulatory, and commercial milestones, plus royalties on sales. HRS-1596 is described as Phase 1-ready for weight management and type 2 diabetes; the deal requires Hart-Scott-Rodino clearance and is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2026. Novo R&D chief Martin Holst Lange said the company wants to explore whether the drug can 'raise the bar for convenience.'

#novo-nordisk #hengrui #oral-glp-1 #licensing-deal
Clinical Trials

The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology Publishes Zealand's Phase 2 ZUPREME-1 Trial: Petrelintide Cut Weight Up to 10.7% vs 1.7% at 42 Weeks

Zealand Pharma announced on Tuesday, September 29, 2026 that the Phase 2 ZUPREME-1 trial of petrelintide, its once-weekly human amylin analog partnered with Roche, has been published in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology, with more results due in an EASD oral presentation on September 30. The trial randomized 485 adults with obesity (mean BMI 36.7) to weekly petrelintide at 1.0 to 9.0 mg or placebo for 42 weeks, including dose escalation. Mean weight loss reached up to 10.7% versus 1.7% with placebo under the efficacy estimand and up to 10.2% versus 1.4% under the treatment-policy estimand; waist circumference fell up to 10.8 cm versus 4.3 cm, and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein fell up to 41% versus 6%. Zealand said gastrointestinal side effects were mostly mild and at rates similar to placebo, with no vomiting and no GI-related discontinuations at the maximally effective dose.

#zealand-pharma #petrelintide #amylin #roche #easd-2026
Clinical Trials

MSD Starts the First Human Trial of a Peptide Formulated With Cyprumed's Oral Delivery Technology, Triggering a Milestone Payment

Innsbruck-based Cyprumed announced on Tuesday, September 29, 2026 that MSD (Merck & Co.) has begun a Phase 1 trial of one of its proprietary drug candidates formulated with Cyprumed's oral delivery technology, the first time the technology has been tested in people; the candidate was not disclosed. Cyprumed's tablet formulations are designed to let therapeutic peptides, including GLP-1 analogs, macrocycles, and mini-proteins, be absorbed when swallowed, using approved excipients. The trial start triggers a milestone payment under the companies' April 2025 non-exclusive license and option agreement to develop oral versions of MSD's peptides, under which Cyprumed can receive up to $493 million.

#cyprumed #merck #oral-peptide #drug-delivery
Research

EMA-Required Nordic Registry Study of 97,464 Matched Pairs Finds No Link Between Semaglutide and Pancreatic Cancer

A post-authorization safety study required by the European Medicines Agency and funded by Novo, presented at EASD by Anton Pottegård of the University of Southern Denmark, compared 97,464 new users of semaglutide for type 2 diabetes in Denmark, Sweden, and Norway with propensity-matched new users of insulin, a sulfonylurea, or an SGLT2 inhibitor. After a one-year lag, there were 131 pancreatic cancers among semaglutide users and 123 among comparators, a pooled hazard ratio of 0.91 (95% CI 0.71 to 1.16). Median follow-up after the lag was 1.4 to 1.85 years, which limits conclusions about longer-term risk.

#semaglutide #pancreatic-cancer #drug-safety #easd-2026
Research

Novo-Funded Claims Analysis at EASD Links Escalating to Ozempic 2 mg With 6% Lower Heart-Event Risk Than Switching to Mounjaro

Novo announced on Tuesday, September 29, 2026 results of COMPETE SWITCH CV, a retrospective analysis of U.S. claims data from Komodo Health (January 2018 to September 2025) in adults with type 2 diabetes who had been taking semaglutide 1 mg. Over up to 720 days, the 185,705 people who escalated to semaglutide 2 mg had a 6% lower adjusted risk of death, heart attack, or stroke than the 23,104 who switched to tirzepatide (adjusted hazard ratio for switching 1.06; 95% CI 1.04 to 1.08). Novo said the analysis shows an association rather than cause and effect, may carry residual confounding, and did not assess safety outcomes.

#semaglutide #tirzepatide #cardiovascular #real-world-evidence #easd-2026
Research

Lilly Indirect Comparison at EASD Estimates Foundayo 17.2 mg Gives 1.5 Points More Weight Loss Than Oral Semaglutide 25 mg

Lilly announced on Tuesday, September 29, 2026 an indirect treatment comparison, presented at EASD, of its oral small-molecule GLP-1 drug Foundayo (orforglipron) 17.2 mg against Novo's oral semaglutide 25 mg in adults with type 2 diabetes, using data from Lilly's ACHIEVE-3 trial and Novo's PIONEER PLUS trial. At 52 weeks, Foundayo was associated with 1.5 percentage points more weight loss (95% CI -2.7 to -0.2) and a 0.3-point larger A1C reduction (95% CI -0.6 to -0.1); sensitivity analyses gave 1.5 to 2.4 points and 0.3 to 0.6 points. Lilly's Rachel Batterham said head-to-head trials give the best comparison of two medicines, and the two drugs have not been tested directly against each other at these doses.

#foundayo #orforglipron #oral-semaglutide #eli-lilly #easd-2026