DeveloperNovo Nordisk concluded a US$2-billion deal with Chinese pharmaceutical company United Biotechnology to license its drug for delivery outside of China/Hong Kong/Macau/Taiwan. United Biotechnology was expected to get an initial $200 million payment followed by up to $1.8 billion and tiered royalties.[1]
Rival Eli Lilly finished its Phase III trials on its own "triple-G" drug,retatrutide, also for diabetes and obesity.[1]
CagriSema is under investigation to treattype 2 diabetes andobesity. Preliminary trial results found a greater weight loss compared to either semaglutide or cagrilintide alone.HbA1c was significantly improved compared to cagrilintide alone and non-significantly better than semaglutide alone.[2][3] In a Phase II trial, weight loss averaged -15.6 percent after 32 weeks, comparable in efficacy totirzepatide.[4][5]
CagriSema enteredPhase III clinical trials in 2023.[6] Chinese regulators approved UB251 for trial for type 2 diabetes, metabolic dysfunction-associatedfatty liver disease andchronic kidney disease. In a small Phase II trial in China, the drug was associated with an average 15.1% weight loss over 12 weeks.[1]
In June 2025, results were published in the New England Journal of Medicine on REDEFINE 1, a 68-week, double-blind, Phase III clinical trial enrolling 3,417 participants, testing weekly cagrilintide 2.4 mg and semaglutide 2.4 mg individually and together versus placebo in obese/overweight subjects with comorbidities. People treated with CagriSema lost 20.4% of their body weight over 68 weeks, versus 11.5% with cagrilintide 2.4 mg alone, 14.9% with semaglutide 2.4 mg alone, and 3.0% with placebo.[7][8]
In June 2025, results were published in the New England Journal of Medicine on REDEFINE 2, a 68-week, double-blind, Phase III clinical trial enrolling 1,206 participants. REDEFINE 2 reported that obese or overweight adult patients with type 2 diabetes lost 13.7% of their weight over 68 weeks with Cagrilintide/semaglutide, compared with 3.1% with placebo.[9][8]
