Marking a massive setback for the company that pushed the COVID vaccine on Americans, Pfizer just pulled the plug on a dangerous weight loss drug after it caused liver damage.
The pharmaceutical giant abandoned its experimental once-daily obesity pill after just one patient suffered liver injury during clinical trials.
The move marks a significant failure in Pfizer’s attempt to compete in the lucrative weight loss drug market currently dominated by Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly.
Pfizer executives tried to downplay the incident, claiming the patient’s liver enzymes returned to normal after stopping the medication.
However, this is not the first time the company has faced safety issues with its weight loss products.
In fact, this marks at least the third obesity treatment Pfizer has abandoned due to liver concerns, raising serious questions about the company’s drug development process and safety protocols.
The pharmaceutical giant previously discontinued a twice-daily version of the same drug due to patient tolerance issues and scrapped another obesity pill in June 2023 for similar liver problems.
This pattern suggests Pfizer may be rushing products to market without adequate safety testing—a concerning trend Americans witnessed during the COVID vaccine rollout.
“While we are disappointed to discontinue the development of danuglipron, we remain committed to evaluating and advancing promising programs in an effort to bring innovative new medicines to patients,” said Dr. Chris Boshoff of Pfizer.
The company will shift its efforts toward earlier-stage obesity treatments while continuing to test another daily pill, PF-07976016, which adopts a different approach by blocking the GIP receptor.
The obesity drug market represents a massive financial opportunity, projected to reach over $150 billion by the early 2030s.
The oral GLP-1 segment alone could be worth $50 billion, with major pharmaceutical companies fighting for dominance.
Still flush with cash from its COVID-19 vaccine windfall, Pfizer has been desperately trying to secure a slice of this profitable industry to maintain revenue growth as pandemic-related sales decline.
While Pfizer stumbles, smaller competitors like Viking Therapeutics are making progress with potentially safer alternatives.
Viking’s stock surged following Pfizer’s announcement as investors recognized the opportunity for companies with more promising weight loss treatments that do not carry the same safety risks.
For Americans concerned about pharmaceutical companies putting profits over safety, this serves as another reminder to approach experimental medications with caution.
Pfizer may have abandoned this particular pill, but it is still aggressively pursuing other weight loss treatments—hopefully with stricter safety testing this time.
