Pharma giant Pfizer’s stock has taken a hit this week after the company announced it is pulling the plug on its highly anticipated weight loss pill. Pfizer’s shares dropped 6% to close at $28.91 on Friday, marking their lowest point since March 2020.
Pfizer announced the trials for the twice-a-day danuglipron pill last year and said that it expects the drug to generate revenue of $10 billion. However, the testing phase of the pill didn’t go as planned, with a large number of patients abandoning the trials due to severe side effects linked with gastrointestinal issues like nausea and vomiting.
The company will continue working on a modified version of danuglipron, which will come as a once-a-day pill. The first study results for this version of the drug are expected to be released in the first half of 2024. Still, the investors don’t seem overly confident about this news.
Pfizer’s stock has been sliding for the better part of the year, which was caused by low demand for COVID-19-related products and increasing competition for their best-selling drugs. The company’s shares are already 43% down year to date and don’t show signs of recovering despite recent cost-cut measures that could potentially save the company around $3.5 billion.