(Reuters) -Pfizer said on Thursday it would advance a reworked, once-a-day version of its experimental obesity pill, danuglipron to clinical trials in the second half of this year, sending its shares 5% higher in premarket trading.
The drugmaker last year said it was focusing on danuglipron’s development after scrapping a separate, once-daily pill due to concerns about liver safety.
Pfizer was testing both a once-daily modified release dosing and also a twice-daily form of danuglipron.
It said early study results supported a once-daily dosing, with a safety profile consistent with prior danuglipron twice-daily dosage studies, including no liver enzyme elevations observed in more than 1,400 healthy adult volunteers.
The Pfizer drug is part of the second-generation of weight loss pills, under development by companies including Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk, that will offer patients more convenient dosing instead of injections.
(Reporting by Manas Mishra in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)
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