Pfizer said Monday that it had discontinued clinical trials of a once-daily weight-loss pill whose results were highly anticipated by investors because patients taking the drug had elevated levels of certain liver enzymes.
Instead, the drug giant said that it would move forward with a twice-daily pill, danuglipron.
Early results of danuglipron, which showed the drug appears to help control blood sugar and resulted in an average of 9.2 lbs. of weight loss over 16 weeks, had led Pfizer’s stock to jump when they were published in May. But investors had hoped that Pfizer would be able to move forward with its once-daily pill, lotiglipron, which they hoped would be more tolerable.