Having developed a blockbuster diabetes treatment that has gained huge traction in the weight loss market, Novo Nordisk (NYSE:NVO) is now expanding its focus to include the prevention of obesity, according to the Financial Times.
CEO Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen is spearheading efforts to explore why certain individuals are more prone to weight gain, the paper said.
This initiative includes a new unit dedicated to "transformational prevention", which employs artificial intelligence and analytics to deepen the understanding of obesity as a disease.
A key component of this venture is the Select trial, a substantial study involving over 17,000 participants. The clinical trial not only examined cardiac outcomes of those taking Novo Nordisk (NYSE:NVO)'s weight-loss drug, Wegovy, but also gathered extensive data, including DNA and blood samples.
The company plans to merge this information with large public databases such as the UK biobank to identify patterns and characteristics of individuals who develop obesity, the FT report said.
Wegovy and its sister product Ozempic (semaglutide) are part of a class of drugs called GLP-1 agonists.
Their take-up has created almost overnight a new multi-billion dollar market segment and transformed Novo Nordisk, a formerly middling Danish healthcare group, into Europe's largest pharma company by market capitalisation, eclipsing the likes of AstraZeneca PLC (LSE:AZN), Bayer and GSK PLC (LSE:GSK, NYSE:GSK).