U.S. drugmaker Pfizer is going “all in” to develop its experimental obesity drug and has been recruiting more experts in that area, Chief Exeuctive Officer Albert Bourla said at the JPMorgan Healthcare Conference on Monday.
“We are all in … we are building our teams … We are recruiting experts in obesity over the last, let’s say, 12, 13, 14 months. So that are helping us now make better and more sound decisions,” Bourla said.
Pfizer is testing a once-a-day form of its oral drug, danuglipron, and expects to offer patients a more convenient alternative to injections.
Bourla said that the company could begin a late-stage study of the drug by the second half of this year, if it succeeds in the mid-stage trial.
“We expect that we’ll have a competitive profile,” he added.
Pfizer’s drug could be the second oral treatment to be launched after Eli Lilly if “we stick to our timeslines,” Bourla said.
At the end of a roundtable lunch with a group of reporters, Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla became impassioned. He admitted that after the company made a “big miscalculation” around the potential sales of its Covid vaccines, Pfizer went into a “spiral of losing credibility.”
But despite the fact that the company’s stock price has not responded as he would like — Pfizer shares are down 5% over the past 12 months — Bourla insisted that the market is overlooking the drug giant’s potential.
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“Pfizer is the best company in executing, there is no one like the Pfizer machine in getting things done,” he said. “What we did with Covid is just an example of that, but it is a very important one.” He pointed to the company’s ability not only to develop a Covid vaccine from a standing stop, but also its unique success in creating Paxlovid, a Covid antiviral.
“Pfizer is the same company that saved the world two years ago because we had operational excellence and scientific processes,” Bourla said.