Roche Aiming to Fast Track Obesity Asset Advancement

Motivated by the promising weight-loss prospects obtained from Carmot Therapeutics, Roche intends to enhance the advancement of its obesity initiatives in an effort to set itself apart from competitors.

Thomas Schinecker, CEO of Roche Group, stated that the pharmaceutical company intends to “fast-track” “certain molecules” for the treatment of obesity.” As a result, the business will be able to provide its weight-loss medicines “much faster to the market than what’s currently assumed.”

Executives from the company did not give a timeframe for the creation of its obesity-related assets.

In December 2023, Roche made a major bet on obesity when it paid $2.7 billion to purchase California company Carmot Therapeutics and its obesity prospects, CT-388 and CT-996. The agreement, which was legally finalised in January 2024, marks the pharmaceutical company’s comeback to the weight-loss medication business after it abandoned the Phase III GLP-1 analogue taspoglutide’s development in 2011 due to safety issues.