Happy Friday! Buried on this week's election news was recent data from drugmakers racing to get into the booming weight-loss drug market.
Pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca and biotech corporations Viking Therapeutics were amongst the businesses presenting encouraging data on their obesity pills and other treatments on the ObesityWeek conference in San Antonio, Texas, in recent days.
Wall Street expects the brand new wave of obesity growth to be driven by pills that might offer more convenience and potentially fewer unwanted side effects, which may lead patients to take the drugs for longer. Analysts expect the marketplace for weight reduction drugs to be value greater than $100 billion by the tip of the last decade as more treatments come to market and help meet demand created by existing ones Injections occur Novo Nordisk And Eli Lilly still struggling to maintain up.
Here's what a few of the data on the pills looked like.
People who took the very best dose of the every day Viking pill lost a median of 6.8% of their body weight after 28 days in comparison with those that received a placebo, in line with results of an early study in 92 people.
That beat investors' expectations of a 5% to six% weight reduction compared with a placebo, William Blair analyst Andy Hsieh said in a note Monday. That bar was set by an experimental pill from Novo Nordisk that showed a 5% weight reduction in 4 weeks, he noted.
Hsieh also said Viking's pill had an “extremely benign tolerability profile,” referring to how well patients tolerated the drug. Six of nine participants who took the very best dose of the drug experienced mild nausea, while just one experienced vomiting.
This could potentially be a bonus over existing anti-obesity injections, which may cause gastrointestinal unwanted side effects so unpleasant that they prompt some patients to stop treatment.
Still, some analysts questioned whether Viking could capture a big share of the competitive weight-loss drug market, particularly raising concerns about its ability to supply enough drugs as a small company.
“We're not saying manufacturing is impossible for Viking, but we think it will be costly because the capital needs and expertise go beyond what Lilly and Novo currently have,” said James Shin, an analyst on the Deutsche Bank said in an announcement on Monday.
But Hsieh said he believes Viking offers “a unique set of attractive properties from the perspective of big pharma.” There has already been speculation in regards to the possibility that Viking could possibly be acquired by a serious pharmaceutical company.
In addition to the pill, Viking can be developing a weight reduction injection and other treatments.
Meanwhile, AstraZeneca said its experimental obesity pill was well tolerated in patients with type 2 diabetes in an early trial, presenting data from multiple trials on three recent treatments in the course of the conference.
After AstraZeneca announced last 12 months that it will license Chinese drugmaker Eccogene's once-daily pill, it said it believed the pill could cause fewer unwanted side effects than injectable treatments from Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly.
Patients with diabetes lost 5.8% of their body weight inside 4 weeks of treatment with the AstraZeneca pill.
Some analysts said it was difficult to match the information with other weight-loss drugs because AstraZeneca's trial was small and tested on diabetics relatively than those with obesity. Still, AstraZeneca believes its pill is different from other therapies in development and in the marketplace, especially given how well it’s tolerated by patients.
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This is how Americans voted on abortion access
This is how Americans voted on abortion access
Americans in 10 states voted this week on whether to enshrine or expand access to abortion, greater than two years after Roe v. Wade was overturned by the US Supreme Court.
Abortion access was a hot topic during this 12 months's presidential campaign, particularly amongst female voters. President-elect Donald Trump recently said he believes the difficulty ought to be left to the states, but has previously expressed support for various proposals for a nationwide ban.
Ballots are still being counted across the country, but here's how Americans voted on abortion, in line with NBC News forecasts:
Arizona: Passed
Arizona voters passed Proposition 139, which establishes a right to abortion within the state before the fetus becomes viable at about 24 weeks.
According to NBC News, the measure passed with 61.2% of the vote, while 38.8% of Arizonans voted against it. So far, about 74% of the expected votes have been counted.
Colorado: Passed
Colorado voters passed Amendment 79, which enshrines the best to abortion within the state structure. It also lifted a ban that prevented public funds from getting used to finance abortions, meaning more Coloradans can get insurance coverage for the procedure.
According to NBC News, Amendment 79 passed with 61.9% of the vote. About 86% of the expected votes have been received.
Florida: Failed
Florida voters rejected Amendment 4, which might have provided a constitutional right to abortion before fetal viability or if the procedure was crucial to guard the patient's health. Abortions are currently banned within the state after the sixth week of pregnancy.
According to NBC News, greater than 57% of Floridians voted for the change. It needed to exceed 60% to pass. About 96% of the expected votes were counted.
Maryland: Passed
Maryland voters enshrined abortion access within the state's structure by passing a right to reproductive freedom, which incorporates “the ability to make and implement decisions to prevent, continue, or terminate one's pregnancy.”
According to NBC News, the measure passed with 74.7% of the vote. About 83% of the expected votes have been received.
Missouri: Passed
Missouri voters passed Amendment 3, enshrining a right to reproductive freedom within the state structure. The amendment gives residents “the right to make and carry out decisions on all matters related to reproductive health care,” including abortion.
According to NBC News, Amendment 3 passed with 51.7% of the vote, while 48.3% of individuals within the state voted against it. Around 99% of the expected votes were received.
Montana: Passed
Montana voters enshrined abortion access of their state's structure, establishing the best to “make and implement decisions about one's pregnancy.”
According to NBC News, the measure passed with 57.6% of the vote, while 42.4% of voters voted against it. About 96% of the expected votes were counted.
Nebraska: Mixed
Nebraska voters didn’t pass an amendment that might have expanded access to abortions until the fetus is viable at about 24 weeks, but they did pass a measure that codified existing abortion restrictions within the state structure. Nebraska bans abortions after 12 weeks unless there’s a medical emergency or the pregnancy is the results of sexual assault or incest.
According to NBC News, nearly 49% of Nebraska voters voted in favor of expanding access to abortion, while 51.4% voted against it. The amendment banning abortions after the primary trimester passed with 55.3% of the vote. About 94% of the expected votes have been received.
Nevada: Passed
Nevada voters passed an amendment banning abortions after the primary trimester unless medically crucial. The amendment also provides exceptions if the pregnancy is the results of incest or sexual assault.
According to NBC News, the amendment passed with 64% of the vote. So far, around 92% of the expected votes have been counted.
New York: Passed
New York voters passed Proposition 1, which protects access to abortion within the state structure. The proposal states that folks mustn’t be denied rights based on their gender, including “sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy, pregnancy outcome, and reproductive health care and autonomy.”
According to NBC News, nearly 62% of New York voters voted in favor of the proposal, while 38.1% voted against it. About 88% of the expected votes have been received.
South Dakota: Failed
South Dakota voters didn’t approve Amendment G, which might have enshrined a right to abortion within the state structure. All abortions are banned within the state unless they’re medically crucial to save lots of the patient's life.
According to NBC News, greater than 41% of voters within the state voted in favor of the change, while 58.6% of individuals voted against it. Around 99% of the expected votes were counted.
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