The obesity drug market just got its first oral GLP-1 treatment courtesy of Novo Nordisk (NVO), and now everyone at the JPMorgan Healthcare Conference wants to know what's next. Enter Ray Stevens, CEO of Structure Therapeutics (GPCR), who sat down with CNBC on Wednesday to explain how his company plans to carve out space in what's becoming a very crowded field.
Stevens said this year will be make-or-break for Structure as it prepares to move aleniglipron, its daily oral GLP-1 candidate, into Phase 3 trials. He's betting that recent and upcoming pill launches from Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly (LLY) will do the heavy lifting of building momentum for oral therapies as a category, which should help everyone playing in that space.
Structure caught investors' attention after releasing Phase 2 data showing that aleniglipron helped obesity patients lose around 11% of their body weight at 36 weeks when adjusted for placebo. The stock more than doubled on that news, and Stevens told CNBC the company is particularly encouraged by both the efficacy and tolerability profile. In the mid-stage study, zero patients who started on the lowest dose dropped out due to side effects, which Stevens sees as a strong signal for long-term adherence.
Four Reasons Structure Thinks It Can Compete
When asked what could actually make aleniglipron competitive against the big players, Stevens didn't hedge. He pointed to four specific factors.
First up: efficacy. A higher dose of aleniglipron produced weight loss of up to 15.3% at 36 weeks, which Stevens noted is what some competitors are only reporting after much longer treatment periods. Speed matters when you're trying to convince patients and doctors to switch.
Second, safety. Stevens said Structure has not observed drug-related liver injuries across its studies, which is a big deal considering liver toxicity has derailed other experimental oral obesity drugs. That clean safety record could prove crucial in a market where regulators are watching closely.
Third, manufacturing economics. As a small-molecule pill, aleniglipron can be produced at scale much more easily than injectable biologics. Stevens said this positions the company to supply the U.S. market efficiently, which translates to better margins and potentially better pricing flexibility.
Fourth, and perhaps most interesting, is the drug's potential for combination therapies. Structure has already demonstrated that pairing its oral GLP-1 with an amylin-targeting drug produced synergistic effects. Stevens said the pill could also be combined with treatments for other conditions, like cholesterol-lowering drugs, opening up multiple pathways to market differentiation.
The Compounding Problem Nobody Wants to Talk About
But Stevens also issued a warning that might seem odd for a CEO pitching his company's prospects: he's worried about compounding pharmacies. These operations produce unapproved alternatives to brand-name obesity drugs, and Stevens said they could undermine new entrants before they even reach patients.
"It's the thing I fear the most," he said. "We've really got to get this compounding issue under control."
It's an unusual concern for a company still in clinical trials, but it speaks to how much the obesity treatment landscape has changed in just a few years. When even experimental drugs face competition from gray-market alternatives, the traditional playbook for launching a new therapy starts to look shaky.
GPCR Price Action: Structure Therapeutics (GPCR) shares were up 0.03% at $91.90 during premarket trading on Friday, hovering near the 52-week high of $94.90.
