June 5 (Reuters) - Roche said on Friday that

patients lost 22.7% of their body weight in a mid-stage trial of

its dual-acting experimental obesity drug, with more than a

quarter of those who received the highest dose achieving at

least 30% weight loss.

Roche is one of several large drugmakers, including

AstraZeneca ( AZN ) and Amgen ( AMGN ), seeking to challenge

Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly ( LLY ) with

next-generation treatments in an obesity market some analysts

expect to generate over $100 billion annually in the next

decade.

The 22.7% weight loss reported for Roche's enicepatide was

achieved after just 48 weeks.

By comparison, Novo's Wegovy injection produced about 15%

weight loss after 68 weeks in a late-stage trial. In a recent

84-week head-to-head trial, Lilly's Zepbound delivered weight

loss of 25.5%, compared with 23% for Novo's next-generation

obesity drug CagriSema. Enicepatide is a once-weekly injection

that, like Zepbound, mimics both the GLP-1 and GIP hormones

rather than just GLP-1.

The weight-loss trajectory showed "no hint of any plateau"

at week 48, Manu Chakravarthy, Roche's head of cardiovascular,

renal and metabolism product development, said in an interview.

The data suggested patients could continue losing weight if

treatment extended beyond the study period, he added.

The Phase 2 study tested enicepatide in 469 adults with

overweight or obesity at five doses ranging from 4 mg to 24 mg

against a placebo.

Among patients who received the highest dose, 26% shed at

least 30% of their weight.

The results, which were presented at the American Diabetes

Association meeting in New Orleans, showed a clear dose-response

relationship, the Swiss drugmaker said. The GLP-1 class of

medicines was originally designed to control blood sugar in type

2 diabetes patients.

Treatment discontinuations due to adverse events were 5.9%

for patients taking enicepatide, compared with 1.3% in the

placebo group. Most gastrointestinal side effects, which are

common with the class of medications, were mild to moderate, the

company said.

Among patients classified as obese at the start of the

trial, more than half who received doses above 8 mg had moved

below the obesity threshold of a body mass index of 30 by week

48, Chakravarthy said.