GLP-1 "Arms Race" Broadens to Include Dozens of Companies
Lexaria highlights DehydraTECH's adverse events improvement opportunity
KELOWNA, BC / ACCESS Newswire / August 6, 2025 / Lexaria Bioscience Corp. (NASDAQ:LEXX)(NASDAQ:LEXXW) (the "Company" or "Lexaria"), a global innovator in drug delivery platforms, provides the following glucagon-like peptide-1 ("GLP-1") and obesity industry update.
The market for obesity and diabetes control drugs such as GLP-1 is growing at faster rates than nearly anyone originally anticipated, with revenues now expected to exceed $150 billion by 2030. Today these markets are overwhelmingly dominated by Eli Lilly and Company® and Novo Nordisk®, but with compelling growth opportunities abounding, no less than 39 new GLP-1 drugs are in development from 34 different companies.
These tremendous growth opportunities in the GLP-1 sector have all of these companies racing to deliver improved products to the market. As reported earlier, perhaps the largest opportunity for product improvement is in the area of patient safety. The existing medications in the market today notoriously cause unwanted adverse events ("AEs"), more specifically gastrointestinal ("GI") AEs (nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and constipation).
To that end, Lexaria is working to position its DehydraTECH drug delivery technology as not only an improved drug absorption/performance enhancer, but also as a vital enabler of reducing side effects of various GLP-1 drugs. The following table summarizes the dramatic improvements in GI AEs that Lexaria has realized when testing all three (semaglutide, tirzepatide, and liraglutide) of the major GLP-1 drugs on the market today with its DehydraTECH ("DHT") technology in an oral format:
Lexaria Study | Control | Test Article | % Reductions vs Control GI AEs |
GLP-1-H24-1 GLP-1-H24-2* GLP-1-H24-3 GLP-1-H24-4** GLP-1-H24-4** GLP-1-H25-5 | Rybelsus® (oral) Rybelsus® (oral) Zepbound® (injectable) Rybelsus® (oral) Rybelsus® (oral) Saxenda® (injectable) | DHT-Rybelsus® (oral) DHT-Rybelsus® (oral) DHT-tirzepatide (oral) DHT-semaglutide (oral) DHT-tirzepatide (oral) DHT-liraglutide (oral) | -60% -100% -57% -43% -57% -31% |
* oral dosing was performed after overnight fasting in all instances, except for GLP-1-H24-2 where fed pre-dosing conditions were applied.
** partial/8-week results from 12-week study
Meanwhile, pharmaceutical companies large and small are jockeying for position in what has effectively become a technological arms race. On May 14th Novo Nordisk® announced that it had struck a collaboration and licensing deal with Septerna™ to develop molecules of use in the obesity and type 2 diabetes sectors, in return for up front and milestone payments of up to $2.2 billion.
On March 12th Roche® announced it had acquired rights to obesity drug petrelintide from Zealand Pharma A/S® for up to $5.3 billion in payments. The Roche transaction allows them to potentially gain more rapid access to the market sector than may have been possible from its own obesity drug, CT-388 which is still undergoing development and assessment.
Regeneron® launched itself into the GLP-1 arms race with its licensing and milestone deal announced June 2nd, worth up to $1.93 billion to acquire rights to China's Hansoh Pharmaceutical Group's™ HS-20094 which is a dual GLP-1/GIP receptor agonist.
On April 15th, Merck® announced a licensing deal worth up to $493 million for limited rights to Cyprumed's™ oral peptide drug delivery technology. What is particularly notable is that these rights are non-exclusive, with additional payments required if Merck® was to exercise their option for exclusive rights.
With an extensive wholly-owned patent portfolio protecting DehydraTECH worldwide, Lexaria continues to take steps to unlock the value of its robust drug delivery platform. As the diabetes control and weight-loss industries continue to focus on GLP-1 and even more advanced drug generations for these and other therapeutic indications, Lexaria remains confident that DehydraTECH is valid for utilization with the right commercial partner(s).
About Lexaria Bioscience Corp. & DehydraTECH
DehydraTECH™ is Lexaria's patented drug delivery formulation and processing platform technology which improves the way a wide variety of drugs enter the bloodstream, always through oral delivery. DehydraTECH has repeatedly evidenced the ability to increase bio-absorption, reduce side-effects, and deliver some drugs more effectively across the blood brain barrier. Lexaria operates a licensed in-house research laboratory and holds a robust intellectual property portfolio with 50 patents granted and additional patents pending worldwide. For more information, please visit www.lexariabioscience.com.
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George Jurcic - Head of Investor Relations
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Phone: 250-765-6424, ext 202
SOURCE: Lexaria Bioscience Corp.
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