‘Not prudent’ for Novartis to join GLP-1 obesity race as late-runner, says CEO

The breakout success of GLP-1 drugs by Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly has persuaded many of their Big Pharma peers to enter their own newly acquired candidates into the obesity race. But don’t expect Novartis to be joining them anytime soon.

“Coming in late with another one of the oral or injectable GLP [or] GIPs, we think is not a prudent approach for us as a company,” Novartis CEO Vas Narasimhan, M.D., told analysts on a second-quarter earnings call this morning.