Danish biotechnology company Zealand Pharma A/S (CPH:ZEAL) reported on Tuesday that pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim has achieved positive Phase 3 results for survodutide, a glucagon/GLP-1 dual agonist, in the SYNCHRONIZE-1 trial.

Adults with obesity or overweight without type 2 diabetes experienced up to 16.6% average weight loss after 76 weeks, compared with 3.2% in the placebo arm, meeting co-primary endpoints with statistical significance.

Participants lost up to 39.2 lb (17.8 kg), with up to 85.1% achieving at least 5% body weight reduction versus 38.8% for placebo, while also demonstrating significant reductions in waist circumference. Initial findings indicate that weight loss was primarily driven by fat reduction, supporting the therapy's potential to improve metabolic health and cardiometabolic risk markers.

The investigational therapy also shows potential liver-related benefits.

Survodutide, licensed from Zealand Pharma, is being developed and commercialised globally by Boehringer Ingelheim, with Zealand eligible for royalties and up to EUR315m in milestone payments.

The broader development programme includes additional Phase 3 trials and pipeline expansion into adjacent metabolic indications, alongside exploration of alternative therapeutic modalities such as oral treatments.