Roche Group AG’s (OTC:RHHBY) obesity drug push faces stiff competition after Genentech, a unit of Roche, reported Phase 2 results showing up to 10.7% weight loss—below expectations and lagging leading treatments from Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) and Eli Lilly and Co. (NYSE:LLY).

Genentech on Thursday shared topline results from the Phase 2 ZUPREME-1 trial evaluating petrelintide versus placebo in 493 obese participants (mean BMI of 37 kg/m²).

In 2025, Genentech and Roche entered into an agreement with Zealand Pharma to co-develop and co-commercialize petrelintide for obesity.

Zealand Pharma received an upfront payment of $1.65 billion. It is also eligible for development milestones of $1.2 billion and sales-based milestones of $2.4 billion.

The study met its primary endpoint.

Once-weekly subcutaneous injections of petrelintide (escalated every fourth week ) showed statistically significant and clinically meaningful