Chinese insulin maker Gan & Lee Pharmaceuticals is wading into the obesity world with an injectable GLP-1 agonist that beat Novo Nordisk's Ozempic (semaglutide) at lowering glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) and body weight in a phase 2 trial in patients with type 2 diabetes, the company announced in an Oct. 15 release.
The drug, GZR18, was given every two weeks at the 12 mg, 18 mg or 24 mg doses. One other group received 24 mg every week. The trial enrolled 264 patients across 25 clinical centers in China. At 24 weeks of treatment, patients given GZR18 saw their average HbA1c—a measure of blood sugar—drop by 1.87% to 2.32% at the highest dose, compared to 1.60% for a group receiving semaglutide.
Biweekly GZR18 injections also led to a maximum weight loss of almost 12 pounds at 24 weeks, compared to just over seven pounds for semaglutide. Like other GLP-1 agonists, the most common side effects were gastrointestinal issues, the company said. The company announced in July that a biweekly, 48 mg dose of GZR18 led to an average weight loss of 17.29% after 30 weeks.
Gan & Lee kept the good news coming in its Tuesday announcement, revealing that two other drug candidates—insulin analogs called GZR4 and GZR101—outperformed Novo's Tresiba (insulin degludec) and Novo's Ryzodeg (insulin degludec / insulin aspart), respectively, in type 2 diabetes trials.
In patients with poor glycemic control on oral antidiabetic drugs, Gan & Lee's once-weekly GZR4 lowered HbA1c by 1.5%, compared to degludec’s 1.48%, according to the company. In part B of that same trial, among patients taking oral antidiabetic drugs and basal insulins, GZR4’s number was 1.26%, beating degludec’s 0.87%.
In another trial of 91 patients with uncontrolled type 2 diabetes on basal/premixed insulin, Gan & Lee's once-daily GZR101 lowered HbA1c by 1.56%, winning out over the 1.31% reduction in the once-daily degludec/insulin aspart group.
"The positive results achieved by GZR18, GZR4, and GZR101 in Phase 2 clinical trials mark an important milestone in improving the current landscape of diabetes treatment,” Gan & Lee chairman Zhong-ru Gan, Ph.D., said in the release. “These results demonstrate that our three products provide better glycemic control compared to similar antidiabetic drugs.”
China’s centralized drug procurement program slashed the prices of 42 insulin products in 2021, much to the chagrin of foreign companies like Novo Nordisk, Sanofi and Eli Lilly and the boon of domestic firms like Gan & Lee.
Gan & Lee was first among all companies in procurement demand for insulin analogs in China's 2024 National Insulin-Specific Centralized Procurement, the company said in the release.