Roche entered the obesity race late and is moving fast. The 2024 Carmot Therapeutics acquisition brought in CT-388 (now enicepatide) — a dual GLP-1/GIP receptor agonist that posted 22.5% placebo-adjusted weight loss in Phase 2. The 2025 Zealand Pharma partnership added petrelintide, the long-acting amylin analog that delivered double-digit weight loss with placebo-like tolerability in ZUPREME-1.
The Q1 2026 print clarified the pipeline cadence: ENITH 1 and ENITH 2, the two Phase 3 enicepatide obesity trials, were both initiated in Q1; the petrelintide+enicepatide fixed-dose combination Phase 2 starts mid-2026; and additional Phase 2 readouts for oral GLP-1 CT-996 are guided before year-end. Roche executives projected $9B in peak sales for the obesity pipeline and confirmed petrelintide and enicepatide ADA 2026 data presentations in June. On April 30, Zealand and Roche announced petrelintide's formal advancement to Phase 3 in chronic weight management.
Stories here cover the enicepatide and petrelintide programs, Carmot integration, and Q1/Q2 readouts. See #enicepatide, #petrelintide, and #zealand-pharma.
BioPharma Dive's June 8 ADA wrap framed the meeting's competitive sort: Lilly reinforced its lead with retatrutide (28.3%) and Foundayo's head-to-head win over oral semaglutide; Pfizer's berobenatide emerged as 'foundational' with the monthly-dosing differentiation; Roche's enicepatide drew 'me-too' framing from RBC's Trung Huynh ('does little to differentiate enicepatide from its peers'). Novo Nordisk lost ground after CagriSema missed non-inferiority versus its target competitor on some endpoints. Lilly closed about 4.5% higher Monday on the data; Novo fell 3.46%.
Genentech presented Phase 2 CT388-103 data for enicepatide, the once-weekly GLP-1/GIP dual agonist, at the Roche investor event Monday June 8. The 48-week study produced 22.5% placebo-adjusted weight loss in adults with overweight or obesity, with 26% of participants losing more than 30% of body weight and almost 40% reaching at least 25%. Both enicepatide and petrelintide advance into Phase 3, and the planned Phase 2 multi-arm fixed-dose combination of the two starts mid-2026.
Roche presented ZUPREME-1 Phase 2 data for petrelintide, the once-weekly long-acting amylin analog licensed from Zealand Pharma, at the Monday June 8 investor event. The pitch hinges on tolerability: published topline showed up to 10.7% weight loss at 42 weeks versus 1.7% placebo, with discontinuation 4.8% vs 4.9% placebo and no vomiting at the maximally effective dose. Medical Daily framed the readout as a non-incretin option for the estimated 30-40% of patients who quit GLP-1s for GI side effects. Petrelintide advances to Phase 3 alongside enicepatide.
Genentech confirmed at its Monday investor event that the planned Phase 2 multi-arm fixed-dose combination of petrelintide (amylin analog) and enicepatide (GLP-1/GIP) starts mid-2026. The setup mirrors Novo's CagriSema and Lilly's Mounjaro-plus-amylin work, with Roche aiming for the same dual-mechanism economics that produced REIMAGINE 2's head-to-head win this week. Roche projected $9 billion in peak annual sales for the combined obesity pipeline at its Q1 print.
Genentech, Roche's US arm, will present detailed Phase 2 ZUPREME-1 data for the amylin analog petrelintide and Phase 2 CT388-103 data for the GLP-1/GIP agonist enicepatide as late-breakers at ADA 2026, with a June 8 virtual investor event. The Roche obesity package combines the two peptides as a planned fixed-dose Phase 2 combination later this year, and the company has projected $9 billion in peak annual sales for the combined pipeline.
Roche will present detailed Phase 2 ZUPREME-1 data for the amylin analog petrelintide as an ADA 2026 late-breaker, with a June 8 investor event. In 493 adults with overweight or obesity (mean BMI 37), once-weekly petrelintide produced up to 10.7% mean weight loss at week 42 versus 1.7% on placebo, with treatment discontinuation of 4.8% versus 4.9% on placebo and no vomiting or GI-related discontinuations at the maximally effective dose. That tolerability is the amylin class's central pitch against the incretins.
Zealand Pharma reported Q1 2026 revenue of DKK 34M against DKK 8M a year earlier and the DKK 17M analyst consensus — a more-than-2× beat on the recognition of Roche's $700M (DKK 4.5B) milestone payment tied to petrelintide's advancement into Phase 3. The board authorized a share buyback of up to DKK 1.3B. Net operating expenses came in at DKK 573M (below the DKK 679M consensus), and the company reaffirmed petrelintide Phase 3 obesity initiation in H2 2026. Petrelintide is the long-acting amylin analog that posted ~10.7% mean weight loss with placebo-like tolerability in ZUPREME-1; the Roche partnership combines it with the GLP-1/GIP enicepatide (CT-388) in a fixed-dose Phase 2 starting mid-2026. Shares rose 8.4% to DKK 344.
On the April 23 Q1 call and follow-up coverage, Roche clarified that its two Phase 3 enicepatide (CT-388) obesity trials — ENITH 1 and ENITH 2 — were both successfully initiated in Q1, with the dual GLP-1/GIP agonist on track to compete in the next-wave Phase 3 obesity readouts. Phase 2 reported 22.5% placebo-adjusted weight loss for enicepatide. Roche also confirmed the petrelintide+enicepatide fixed-dose combination Phase 2 will dose its first patient around mid-2026, pairing the Zealand-derived amylin analog (placebo-like tolerability, 10.7% mean weight loss in ZUPREME-1 at week 42) with Roche's stronger GLP-1/GIP backbone. Additional Phase 2 readouts for oral GLP-1 CT-996 are guided before year-end 2026.
Zealand Pharma announced April 29 that it and partner Roche have formally endorsed advancing petrelintide — a long-acting amylin analog suitable for once-weekly subcutaneous administration — into Phase 3 trials for chronic weight management, with initiation planned for H2 2026. The Phase 3 program will evaluate petrelintide as monotherapy and in combination with Roche's GLP-1/GIP receptor dual agonist enicepatide (CT-388). The decision follows positive Phase 2 ZUPREME-1 data showing up to 10.7% weight loss with placebo-like tolerability; petrelintide is now positioned as the lead non-GLP-1 obesity asset behind only Novo's CagriSema.
Roche reported Q1 2026 sales up 6% at constant exchange rates and used the earnings call to re-anchor its obesity strategy. Executives project $9 billion in peak annual sales from the emerging breast cancer pill plus four obesity candidates. Lead asset petrelintide (licensed from Zealand Pharma, ZUPREME-1 Phase 2 showed up to 10.7% weight loss with placebo-like tolerability) is positioned at a differentiated patient segment. CEO Schinecker said Roche is not investing in the first generation of obesity drugs, but the next — with petrelintide and CT-388 (enicepatide) data headed for ADA 2026.