Novo Nordisk is keeping its foot on the gas as it strives to carve out a strong position in the exploding obesity market, inking a deal worth up to $1.1 billion to buy a Canadian biotech that is dusting off an old approach to triggering weight loss.

诺和诺德正在努力在爆炸式肥胖市场中占据一席之地，投入高达11亿美元的交易来购买加拿大生物技术公司，这是一种引发体重减轻的旧方法。

The biotech, Inversago Pharma, is focused on drugs that block the cannabinoid CB1 receptor. Sanofi won approval for a CB1 receptor blocker weight loss drug, rimonabant, in Europe in 2006. However, European authorities withdrew (PDF) the approval in 2009 after studies linked the drug, sold as Acomplia, to a doubling of the risk of psychiatric disorders.

Inversago Pharma生物技术公司专注于阻断大麻素CB1受体的药物。赛诺菲于2006年获得欧洲CB1受体阻滞剂减肥药利莫那班的批准。然而，在研究将作为Acomplia出售的药物与精神疾病风险加倍联系起来后，欧洲当局于2009年撤回了批准（PDF）。

The product never won approval in the U.S..

该产品从未在美国获得批准。。

Since then, scientists have continued to study the potential to treat obesity by blocking the cannabinoid receptor. Inversago leveraged its work on the target to raise $70 million from investors including New Enterprise Associates, Forbion and Amgen Ventures last year.

从那时起，科学家们继续研究通过阻断大麻素受体来治疗肥胖的潜力。Inversago利用其工作目标，去年向包括New Enterprise Associates，Forbion和Amgen Ventures在内的投资者筹集7000万美元。

The Montreal-based biotech has primarily focused on the use of CB1 blockers outside of obesity, moving its lead asset, INV-202, into a phase 2 trial in patients with diabetic kidney disease late last year. But, with its obesity business booming, Novo Nordisk framed the takeover in the context of the weight loss potential..

基于蒙特利尔的生物技术公司主要关注肥胖以外的CB1阻滞剂的使用，将其主要资产INV-202转移到去年年底糖尿病肾病患者的2期临床试验中。但是，随着肥胖业务的蓬勃发展，诺和诺德在减肥潜力的背景下收购了这项收购。。

In a statement to disclose the takeover, the Danish drugmaker said Inversago’s CB1 receptor blockers are designed to help people “with obesity, diabetes and complications associated with metabolic disorder,” adding that the molecules “preferentially block CB1 receptors in peripheral tissues such as adipose.”.

在披露收购的声明中，丹麦药剂师表示，Inversago的CB1受体阻滞剂旨在帮助“肥胖，糖尿病和与代谢紊乱相关的并发症”患者，并补充说这些分子“优先阻断脂肪等外周组织中的CB1受体”。

Novo Nordisk’s focus on the restriction of the molecules to peripheral tissues reflects the adverse events seen in recipients of rimonabant. Researchers linked the psychiatric side effects in patients on the Sanofi drug to the effect of interactions between rimonabant and the central nervous system.

诺和诺德关注分子对外周组织的限制反映了利莫那班接受者的不良事件。研究人员将赛诺菲药物患者的精神副作用与利莫那班与中枢神经系统之间相互作用的影响联系起来。

By only acting on peripheral tissue, INV-202 may drive weight loss without causing psychiatric adverse events..

通过仅作用于外周组织，INV-202可以在不引起精神不良事件的情况下减轻体重。。

INV-202 has shown a tolerable side effect profile, although it is yet to be tested in large, late-phase trials. The data generated to date have persuaded Novo Nordisk to add INV-202 and other CB1 blockers to an obesity operation that is largely focused on GLP-1.

INV-202已显示出可耐受的副作用，尽管尚未在大型后期试验中进行测试。迄今为止生成的数据已经说服诺和诺德将INV-202和其他CB1阻断剂添加到主要关注GLP-1的肥胖手术中。

“The INV-2020 molecule … is designed to reach the brain with minimal activity, but maximum activity in the peripheral tissue,” Novo Nordisk’s EVP of Development Martin Holst Lange said on a call with analysts this morning. “And what we have seen in the clinical space is actually an efficacy that is somewhat beyond what [was seen with rimonabant] and a safety profile that appears, at least in a smaller setting, to have been de-risked in accordance with the design.”.

诺和诺德（Novo Nordisk）的发展EVP Martin Holst Lange在今天早上与分析师通话时说：“INV-2020分子……旨在以最小的活动到达大脑，但在外周组织中的活动最大。“我们在临床领域看到的实际上是一种疗效，这种疗效有点超出了[利莫那班所见]和安全性，至少在较小的环境中，根据设计出现了风险。”。

An analog of the appetite-regulating hormone, PYY, was the only other approach to treating obesity in the clinical pipeline. However, Novo Nordisk recently ended development of the candidate after seeing what Holst Lange described as a “modest treatment effect” in the phase 2 data. The action was one of two terminations disclosed in Novo Nordisk’s second-quarter results, along with a fixed dose combination of semaglutide and an SGLT2 inhibitor..

食欲调节激素PYY的类似物是临床管道中治疗肥胖症的唯一其他方法。然而，诺和诺德最近在第二阶段数据中看到Holst Lange所描述的“适度治疗效果”之后，结束了候选人的发展。该行动是诺和诺德第二季度结果中公布的两项终止行动之一，以及semaglutide和SGLT2抑制剂的固定剂量组合。。