AbbVie has unveiled the first data from its $350 million obesity bet, with the amylin analog demonstrating weight loss of close to 10% after 12 weeks in one dose cohort.
Amylin emerged last year as the next hot target in obesity, and AbbVie was willing to splash the cash to secure ABBV-295, a long-acting amylin analog, from Denmark’s Gubra in March 2025. The drug has continued to be evaluated in a phase 1 study assessing doses ranging from 2 mg to 14 mg as well as various titrations and frequencies.
The three cohorts who received a weekly dose of ABBV-295 saw average weight loss of 7.7%, 8.7% and 9.8%, respectively. The data so far have not quite reached the heights of Eli Lilly’s amylin analog eloralintide, which impressed analysts last year by demonstrating weight loss as high as 11.3% from one cohort at the 12-week mark.
Still, Primal Kaur, M.D., who heads up global development of immunology, neuroscience, eye care and specialty at AbbVie, said this morning’s readout “demonstrate[s] meaningful weight loss together with a well-tolerated safety profile.”
“These initial results further reinforce the potential of ABBV-295 as a novel therapeutic option for people living with obesity,” Kaur added.
Analysts have previously predicted that AbbVie will use these multiple-ascending dose results to help inform the design of the phase 2 study they predict to kick off later this year.
Part of the appeal of amylin analogs is the potential to drive weight loss without causing the same level of tolerability problems GLP-1 receptor agonists do. In this morning’s release, AbbVie said ABBV-295 “demonstrated a favorable tolerability profile at all evaluated dose levels,” with no serious adverse events reported.
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The most common adverse events were gastrointestinal disorders, which were mostly mild and mainly occurred during the first six weeks of treatment, the pharma added.
In a note to clients posted Monday, analysts at William Blair said that they “believe the week 12 weight loss of roughly 10% is competitive across the amylin class, and therefore is an encouraging initial update.”
The analysts also revealed some extra details from their follow-up with AbbVie’s management, finding that the titration step-ups were either weekly or every two weeks, and “the data suggests a dose response.”
They also highlighted that the higher dose groups did not have any female participants, with that part of the trial also treating those with a generally lower BMI (under 30 kg/m2 inclusion criteria). This “could suggest greater weight loss in subsequent obesity trials with enrollment more similar to other recent studies,” the analysts argued. They foresee more detailed results from the study to come at the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) in the fall.
The sky-high expectations that amylin drugs could dethrone the approved GLP-1 blockbusters from Lilly and Novo Nordisk have already been dented in recent weeks. First, Novo Nordisk’s CagriSema—a combination of Wegovy and the amylin analog cagrilintide—was defeated by Lilly’s Zepbound in a phase 3 head-to-head.
Then, last week, Zealand Pharma and Roche’s amylin analog petrelintide was only able to serve up 10.7% weight loss at the 42-week mark, leading analysts to warn the “disappointing” data meant the “real-world use-case for petrelintide will likely be materially reduced.”
AbbVie’s shares dipped into the red Monday, down just under 2.7% at 11:00 a.m. ET.