More contenders enter oral obesity race

Early obesity data from Terns for small molecule GLP-1 agonist TERN-601 are promising, but still trail efficacy demonstrated by competing oral therapies from Roche and Novo Nordisk earlier this year.

Shares of Terns Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:TERN) jumped 34% to $10.49 over the past two days after the company announced Phase I data from the oral obesity program. Treatment with TERN-601 led to 4.9% placebo-adjusted weight loss after four weeks at the highest dose of 740 mg once daily. Nine patients were treated in each arm of the study...