Business

Boeing shareholders re-elected outgoing CEO Dave Calhoun to the company’s board, according to a preliminary vote tally.
New board chair Steve Mollenkopf said he has sought feedback on Calhoun’s successor from investors and Boeing’s customers.
Calhoun told shareholders that the company’s focus is on stabilizing its production and quality after a door plug blew out of an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Max 9 earlier this year.

Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun speaks briefly with reporters as he arrives for a meeting at the office of Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) on Capitol Hill January 24, 2024 in Washington, DC.
Drew Angerer | Getty Images

Boeing shareholders voted to re-elect the outgoing CEO Dave Calhoun to the board of directors, a preliminary tally on Friday showed, as he sought to reassure investors that the manufacturer is on the path to stability amid its latest safety crisis.
Calhoun in March said he will step down by year’s end, months after a door plug panel blew out midflight from a Boeing 737 Max 9, ushering in new scrutiny of the manufacturer’s safety and quality control issues. Boeing also replaced its board chair and the head of its commercial airplane unit in the shakeup.

Boeing’s new chairman, Steve Mollenkopf, told shareholders at the company’s annual meeting Friday that he has consulted with investors and customers on Calhoun’s successor. Proxy advisor Glass Lewis had recommended that shareholders vote against Calhoun and two other board members.
Boeing’s latest problems have driven down deliveries of new aircraft, frustrating airline executives who have complained about having to change their flight schedules and scale back staffing. It has also further strained Boeing’s relationship with its regulator, the Federal Aviation Administration, which has ramped up inspections of the manufacturer.
Earlier this week, the Justice Department said Boeing violated a 2021 settlement that protected the company from criminal charges tied to the two fatal 737 Max crashes, opening Boeing up to potential U.S. prosecution. More

Auction companies and luxury real estate brokers say wealthy buyers and sellers are increasingly turning to private sales and off-market listings.
Last year, while combined public auction sales for Sotheby’s, Christie’s and Phillips fell by 19%, private sales increased by 4% at Sotheby’s and 5% at Christie’s.
“Discretion today is key. People can buy without the whole world staring at them,” said Shelby Myers, global head of private sales for RM Sotheby’s.

A 1960 Ferrari 400 Superamerica SWB Cabriolet by Pinin Farina, available via Sotheby’s Private Sales.
Courtesy: RM Sotheby’s

A version of this article first appeared in CNBC’s Inside Wealth newsletter with Robert Frank, a weekly guide to the high-net-worth investor and consumer. Sign up to receive future editions, straight to your inbox.
The rich have taken “quiet wealth” to a new level, turning to private purchases of mansions, art and classic cars designed to avoid attention, according to experts.

Auction companies and luxury real estate brokers say wealthy buyers and sellers are increasingly turning to private sales and off-market listings to avoid social media and prying eyes. While public auction sales are declining in the art world, private sales — done behind closed doors between discreet buyers and sellers — are growing.
Last year, while combined public auction sales for Sotheby’s, Christie’s and Phillips fell by 19%, private sales increased by 4% at Sotheby’s and 5% at Christie’s, totaling $2.4 billion across the two auction houses. CNBC reported in February that Christie’s had sold a Mark Rothko painting for over $100 million to hedge-fund billionaire Ken Griffin, even as public auctions continued to decline.
Classic cars are also seeing a shift to private sales, especially with the most expensive and rare models. RM Sotheby’s, the classic-car auction company, has sold trophy Ferraris, Porsches and other trophy cars by public auction for more than 30 years. But its newly formed RM Sotheby’s private sales division has seen its sales more than quadruple over the past four years, according to Shelby Myers, global head of private sales for RM Sotheby’s.
Private sales, where cars are discreetly brokered between buyer and seller without an auction or public price, now account for nearly a third of revenue, he said.
“We’ve definitely seen a trend where people want to transact privately,” Myers said. “Discretion today is key. People can buy without the whole world staring at them.”

The rise in private sales for classic cars, art, real estate and other markets is being driven by social media, technology and cooling prices for collectibles. When a work of art or classic car comes up for auction, the results, and sometimes the seller, are highly public, spread over social media and blogs.
Collectibles experts say sellers don’t want to risk putting a treasured item up for auction only to have it stumble publicly on the auction block.
“It’s very public now when someone loses money on a sale, and no one wants that,” Myers said. “Up until a few years ago, you could buy a car at auction and the prices wouldn’t be splattered all over social media.”
Collectors who like to show their cars at events and award shows are also shying away from auctions since viewers are more likely to be able to figure out how much the owner paid.
“The car enthusiasts used to be a relatively small, tight-knit group,” Myers said. “Now when a major collector shows their car, it spreads like wildfire over blogs and the internet. And everyone can see who the owner is and what they paid.”
In real estate, many of the biggest deals in Manhattan, Malibu, Aspen, the Hamptons and Palm Beach are now in private or “off-market” sales. Also known as “whisper” or “pocket” listings, off-market properties are not listed on multiple listing services or public websites but are shopped around quietly among a select group of brokers and buyers.
A townhouse in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village sold this year in an off-market deal for $72.5 million, making it the most expensive townhouse ever sold downtown. A 13,000-square-foot mansion in Palm Beach sold off-market for $60 million, making it one the most expensive non-waterfront homes ever sold on the island. And Aspen’s first sale of over $100 million — Patrick Dovigi’s mansion on Red Mountain to billionaires Steve Wynn and Thomas Peterffy — was off-market, with the broker representing both the buyer and seller.  
Los Angeles is considered the birthplace of off-market deals, starting in the 1980s and 1990s when celebrities and movie stars wanted to avoid overzealous fans visiting their listed homes.
Over time, according to Douglas Elliman real estate agent Ernie Carswell in Los Angeles, wealthy, not but famous, sellers have joined in on the off-market craze.
“Even the average multi-millionaire or billionaire likes the idea of selling without the media and privacy invasion,” Carswell said.
Carswell said he currently has a billionaire client in New York who wants a special property in Los Angeles, so Carswell is looking at a mega-mansion owned by a Middle Eastern billionaire who is offering it only to select buyers. He’s also working on a deal in Palm Springs with a celebrity selling a home he didn’t want to be publicly shown to a billionaire buyer who doesn’t want any photos of his new home on the web.
“They don’t want burglars to know how to get to the bedroom, or how much land there is or how to get through the hedges,” Carswell said. “I blame technology.”
Carswell said off-market listings don’t make sense for properties under $5 million since they have a larger possible buying pool and benefit from broader marketing. But for special mega-homes in Malibu, Bel Air or Beverly Hills priced over $20 million, the list of potential buyers is smaller, and most are already known to the brokers, which makes an off-market agreement more appealing. 
That makes broker relationships even more important — especially to the wealthy, Carswell said.
“Never before has the need for a skilled, connected real estate professional been more valuable, especially at the high end,” he said.
Still, some brokers say even for pricey properties, sellers who go private don’t get the highest price since they’re limiting their pool of potential buyers.
“They’re leaving money on the table,” said real estate broker Noble Black of Douglas Elliman. “There is a valid reason for not listing, you want privacy and discretion. But you’re paying a premium for that.”
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Warner Bros. Discovery and the NBA continue to have discussions about reaching a new broadcast deal.
Warner Bros. Discovery has matching rights if the NBA signs a deal with NBCUniversal for a package of games.
If Warner Bros. Discovery matches NBCUniversal’s bid, it’s unclear if the league has full discretion to walk away from the matched offer, sources told CNBC.

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver speaks to the media during a press conference as part of the 2022 All-Star Weekend at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse on February 19, 2022 in Cleveland, Ohio.
Jason Miller | Getty Images

Whether it’s two people in a marriage or a company and a sports league, it’s not easy to break up a 40-year partnership.
The NBA and Warner Bros. Discovery’s Turner Sports have been in business together for nearly four decades. The relationship is now in jeopardy, as Comcast’s NBCUniversal is attempting to steal away its package of games with a $2.5 billion per-year offer, as CNBC has previously reported.

The league ended its exclusive window to renew a deal with its two current media partners, Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery, on April 22. Since then, the league has set a framework to renew with Disney, bring in Amazon as a new third partner, and sell its other package to either Warner Bros. Discovery or NBCUniversal, according to people familiar with the matter. The league stands to triple the total value of a new deal from about $24 billion to $76 billion or more.
Warner Bros. Discovery continues to have discussions with the NBA about keeping the rights, according to people familiar with the matter. The league could still decide to simply renew with its incumbent partner, but it’s not likely, said two of the people, who asked not to be named because the talks are private.
The more probable path would be for the league to sign papers with NBCUniversal, formally securing its bid. That would trigger a contractual option for Warner Bros. Discovery to match the offer.
This is where things might get thorny.
Both the NBA and Warner Bros. Discovery have begun poring over legal language to determine if the league can reject a potential match, the people said. The contractual wording is vague, and it’s unclear if the NBA has full discretion to walk away from Warner Bros. Discovery if it matches the bid, said the people.

If Warner Bros. Discovery decides to match, and the NBA moves to choose NBCUniversal’s offer, the sides may be headed for a lawsuit. Warner Bros. Discovery believes it’s fairly well protected by the contractual language, one of the people said.
Still, that remains hypothetical at this point. It’s possible Warner Bros. Discovery won’t match NBCUniversal’s bid, which would avoid potential conflict.
Some league officials are worried Warner Bros. Discovery’s balance sheet can’t handle spending $2.5 billion a year on the NBA, according to people familiar with the matter. Warner Bros. Discovery has a market valuation of about $20 billion and an enterprise value of about $60 billion, including $43.2 billion of gross debt, as of the end of the company’s fiscal first quarter. The company had a leverage ratio (net debt to adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) of 4.1.
Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav has both publicly and privately preached the importance of financial discipline for the company.
NBCUniversal parent Comcast has a market capitalization of about $154 billion and an enterprise value of $244 billion. Comcast’s leverage ratio is about 2.5.
NBA officials are more comfortable Comcast can pay what would amount to more than double the previous price for the package, according to the people familiar to the matter.
Warner Bros. Discovery had been paying $1.2 billion per year to air NBA games. The new package also includes fewer games than the current one because the NBA is likely to introduce a third partner — most likely to be Amazon.
Spokespeople for Warner Bros. Discovery and the NBA declined to comment.

The fate of Venu

Warner Bros. Discovery, Disney and Fox announced Thursday they plan to name their new sports streaming platform Venu, taking inspiration from where live sports are played. The new joint venture, one-third owned by each media company, will offer a bundle of sports networks and ESPN+ at a still to be determined price that’s less expensive than traditional cable. CNBC reported earlier this year the price could be around $45 or $50 a month. The service will debut in the fall, the companies have said.
The three companies haven’t yet formally signed paperwork on the venture as they await regulatory approval. If Warner Bros. Discovery loses the NBA, that will diminish the value of the service for consumers, as NBCUniversal and Amazon aren’t partners in the product.
Warner Bros. Discovery licenses the rights to other sports leagues and groups, including MLB, the NHL and the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s March Madness. The company will also have the NBA next year no matter what, as the new rights deal doesn’t kick in until the end of the 2024-25 season.
There’s been no discussion about shutting down the venture before it launches if Warner Bros. Discovery loses the NBA, according to a person familiar with the matter. Still, without the NBA, Disney and Fox would be contributing the lion’s share of sports content for the service. Disney’s ESPN and Fox own both college football and NFL packages, unlike Warner Bros. Discovery. The three companies plan to split revenue commensurate with the affiliate fees associated with their linear networks.
Warner Bros. Discovery could use the money it saves from not obtaining NBA rights to spend on other sports, such as more MLB games or bidding for UFC, which will likely begin renewal discussions with media companies in early 2025.
ESPN plans to launch its own “flagship” streaming service in the fall of 2025.
Disclosure: Comcast’s NBCUniversal is the parent company of CNBC.

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The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday approved Amgen’s treatment for patients with the most deadly form of lung cancer. 
The agency cleared the drug, called Imdelltra, as a second or later-line treatment for adults with advanced small-cell lung cancer.
In clinical trials, Amgen’s drug has been shown to reduce tumor growth and help people with small-cell lung cancer live longer. 

The Amgen headquarters in Thousand Oaks, California.
Eric Thayer | Bloomberg | Getty Images

The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday approved Amgen’s therapy for patients with the most deadly form of lung cancer. 
The agency cleared the drug, which will be marketed under the name Imdelltra, as a second or later line of treatment for people with advanced small-cell lung cancer. That means patients can take the drug if their cancer progresses while on or after trying one other form of treatment, which is typically a type of chemotherapy. Amgen’s drug is also known by its generic name tarlatamab.

In clinical trials, Amgen’s drug has been shown to reduce tumor growth and help people with small-cell lung cancer live significantly longer.
Of the more than 2.2 million patients who are diagnosed with lung cancer worldwide each year, small-cell lung cancer comprises 15%, or 330,000, of those cases, Amgen said. Around 80% to 85% of people with small-cell lung cancer are diagnosed with an advanced stage of the disease, according to a study published in the Journal of Cancer.
There are around 35,000 patients with small-cell lung cancer in the U.S., Dr. Jay Bradner, Amgen’s chief scientific officer, told CNBC. 
Small-cell lung cancer usually starts in the airways of the lung and grows rapidly, creating large tumors and spreading throughout the body. Symptoms include bloody phlegm, cough, chest pain and shortness of breath.
Only 3% of patients with small-cell lung cancer that has spread to other parts of the body live past 5 years, according to the American Cancer Society. That five-year survival rate accounts for 7% among all patients with the condition, regardless of whether the cancer spreads. Bradner said patients with small-cell lung cancer typically have four to five months to live.

Lynne Bell, a small-cell lung cancer patient from Atlanta, Georgia, is an exception. She says she was “horrified” and “in a dark place” after she was diagnosed with an advanced stage of the condition in 2021.
But she started taking Amgen’s Imdelltra in an ongoing clinical trial in September after other treatments, including chemotherapy, stopped working. Since then, Bell said her tumors have shrunk significantly and cancer scans “look great.” She said she specifically noticed her pain go away after taking a second dose of Amgen’s drug.
When asked how long she would continue Imdelltra, Bell said, “If this medication is working and I’m not having any side effects, I’m good to go. I’m in it to win it.”
Maida Mangiameli, a small-cell lung cancer advocate and patient mentor from Naperville, Illinois, is also a survivor of the devastating disease. She was diagnosed with an advanced stage of the condition in 2018 but was deemed in remission this year, meaning the treatment she received has reduced the signs and symptoms of the cancer. 
Mangiameli has been in remission for five years. Her treatments included chemotherapy and 28 days of radiation therapy. She told CNBC that Amgen’s Imdelltra may “not be something for me, but it might be down the road.” 
Mangiameli added that she’s excited to know that there will be another therapy option for other patients suffering from small-cell lung cancer. She said the development of new treatments for the disease has been “on the back burner” for several years. 
Amgen’s Bradner also said treatment options “are pretty meager.” 
“It’s just one of the most dreadful cancers and so we needed a new solution,” he said. 

Lung cancer tumor and light micrograph, illustration.
Kateryna Kon | Science Photo Library | Getty Images

Amgen’s drug is called a bispecific T-cell engager, which is designed to redirect the immune system’s T-cells to recognize and kill cancer cells. 
The approval is based on results from a phase two trial that followed more than 200 patients with small-cell lung cancer. Cancer tumors shrank in 40% of people who were given a 10-milligram dose of Imdelltra every 2 weeks.
Notably, the median time that people lived after starting 10-milligram doses of Amgen’s drug was 14.3 months. That compares with around six to 12 months with current treatments, according to the National Cancer Institute. 
“These patients who would normally only have four to five months enjoy almost another full year of life,” Bradner told CNBC. 
That time can make a huge difference for patients. 
For Mangiameli, receiving treatment for small-cell lung cancer gave her years to get closer to her grandchild, who was born not long before she was diagnosed with the disease. 
“I had the impetus, the drive to make sure I survived. … I just had my first grandchild, I have to live long enough for us to become pals,” Mangiameli said. 
Meanwhile, Bell said taking Imdelltra gave her the time to travel; she went on a trip with her daughter to San Diego.
“I’m trying to go as many places that I can get to,” Bell told CNBC.
Amgen is continuing to study Imdelltra in several trials, including some that will test the drug as an earlier line of treatment for small-cell lung cancer. 
That includes a late-stage trial comparing Imdelltra with chemotherapy as a second-line treatment for the disease. Amgen also plans to start another phase three study on the drug as a first-line treatment for patients at an advanced stage of small-cell lung cancer. 
“What makes us hopeful is, as you develop cancer medicines, that if they work in later stages of the disease, they can work even better when you move them” to first-line treatment, Bradner said.

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Spirit AeroSystems notified its Wichita workforce of layoffs of up to 450 employees that will take place in the coming weeks.
The aerospace company cited a slowdown in Boeing plane deliveries.
The company is also in talks to be acquired by Boeing.

A Boeing 737 MAX-10 lands over the Spirit AeroSystems logo during a flying display at the 54th International Paris Air Show at Le Bourget Airport near Paris, France, on June 22, 2023.
Benoit Tessier | Reuters

Aerospace supplier Spirit AeroSystems on Thursday said it will lay off some of its workers because of slower delivery rates on commercial aircraft as it struggles with a slowdown at its biggest commercial airplane customer, Boeing.
Spirit AeroSystems told staff in a memo, reported earlier by Wichita-based KSN, that it would cut about 400 to 450 hourly employees.

“We are committed to implementing this transition in as compassionate a manner as possible,” Spirit AeroSystems said in a statement.
About 12,600 people worked at the Wichita facility as of the end of 2023, according to the company’s annual filing.
Spirit AeroSystems makes fuselages at the plant for Boeing’s bestselling 737 Max plane, deliveries of which have slowed in the wake of a door panel blowout and resulting safety crisis at Boeing.
Last week, Spirit AeroSystems said first-quarter Boeing deliveries decreased 31% from the same period in 2023, and said overall deliveries were down 11.3%.
It reported a quarterly loss of $616.7 million for the first three months of the year. The company has struggled financially in recent years and was last profitable in 2019. 

The company is also in talks to be acquired by Boeing, which it spun off from in 2005. About 70% of Spirit AeroSystems’ revenue last year came from Boeing, although the company also makes parts for Boeing’s rival Airbus.
Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun told CNBC in an interview in April 2024 that it is “more than likely” that the companies reach a deal during the second quarter.

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United Airlines said the Federal Aviation Administration has cleared it to add new aircraft and routes.
The FAA had stepped up its safety review after several high-profile incidents, including one of the carrier’s 777s that lost a tire after takeoff.
The agency’s safety review forced the carrier to postpone new routes, including to Faro, Portugal.

A United Airlines 737 Max 8
Leslie Josephs | CNBC

United Airlines said the Federal Aviation Administration has cleared it to start adding new aircraft and routes months after the regulator stepped up its scrutiny of the carrier following several safety incidents.
“Today, we got some good news: after a careful review and discussion about the proactive safety steps United has taken to date, our FAA Certificate Management Office has allowed us to begin the process of restarting our certification activities, including new aircraft and routes, and we will continue to coordinate closely with the FAA,” United said in a note to employees Wednesday.

United said in March that the FAA had stepped up scrutiny of the airline after a spate of incidents earlier this year. That prevented it from launching new routes, including flights to Faro, Portugal, ahead of the busy summer travel season.
United said that it has more work to do, however.
“We will continue to see an FAA presence in our operation as they review our work processes, manuals and facilities,” it said in its employee memo.
United would send requests to the FAA to add aircrafts or new routes, though a spokesperson said it has yet to do so.
The FAA said later Thursday that it has not yet “approved any expansion of United Airlines’ routes or fleets.” The FAA said its review is “ongoing and safety will determine the timeline for completing it.”

A clearance from the FAA would be welcome news as United and other carriers expect a record peak season this year.
Among the safety incidents in recent months, a Japan-bound United Boeing 777 lost a tire shortly after takeoff from San Francisco in February, and a missing panel was discovered on a Boeing 737 after it landed in Oregon in March.
While the planes involved older jets, the incidents come amid heightened scrutiny of the aviation industry after a door plug blew out of a nearly new Boeing 737 Max 9 operated by Alaska Airlines earlier this year, a near catastrophe that has created a fresh crisis for the manufacturer.

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Walmart Chief Financial Officer John David Rainey said the high price of fast food has drawn more shoppers to its grocery aisles.
The big-box retailer’s first-quarter earnings and revenue beat Wall Street’s expectations, at a time when restaurant companies such as McDonald’s, Starbucks and Yum Brands have posted disappointing results.
Walmart recently launched a premium grocery brand, Bettergoods, with unique items and flavors such as curry chicken empanadas.

Getty Images (L) | Reuters (R)

Forget the drive-thru. Walmart wants diners to find a value meal in its grocery aisles.
As fast food gets pricier, the nation’s largest grocer sees a sales opportunity.

On a call with CNBC on Thursday, Walmart Chief Financial Officer John David Rainey said some of the discounter’s sales growth in the recent quarter came from customers who turned to its grocery aisles for cheaper meals than they can get at quick-service restaurants.
“It’s roughly 4.3 times more expensive to eat out than it is to eat at home,” he said. “And that’s benefiting our business.”
As customers see some grocery items stay the same price or even become cheaper, the gap between buying menu items and cooking food at home has grown even wider, he said.
Walmart’s stock soared to an all-time high Thursday, after it beat Wall Street’s quarterly sales and revenue expectations and said it expected its full-year results to be on the high end of, or better than, its previous forecast. Transactions in the U.S. rose 3.8%, as more customers visited its stores and website.
Walmart’s strong store traffic and quarterly results are at odds with those of restaurant companies, including McDonald’s, Starbucks and Yum Brands. Foot traffic to limited-service chains, which includes fast-food and fast-casual restaurants, fell 3.5% in the first quarter, according to Revenue Management Solutions. Restaurant executives blamed bad weather in January and February — and a consumer slowdown, particularly among lower-income diners.

Like many restaurants, McDonald’s has faced backlash to its prices. An $18 Big Mac combo sold at one of its franchised restaurants in Connecticut went viral on social media, prompting executives to defend the chain’s pricing on its conference call. The burger giant reported disappointing U.S. same-store sales growth of 2.5%, suggesting that its foot traffic fell during the quarter.
Still, McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski said consumers, particularly those earning lower incomes, are hunting for deals. The chain will offer a $5 value meal starting June 25 for roughly a month.
Not all restaurants have had trouble getting diners to pay higher prices: fast-casual chains such as Chipotle, Wingstop and Sweetgreen all reported strong sales in their most recent quarters.
Inflation data from the U.S. Labor Department reflects the difference between the price that customers pay for food they cook at home or pack for lunch, compared with what they pay at a coffee shop or restaurant. As of April, the price of food at home, a category that measures the total cost of food purchased at grocers or other food stores, was up 1.1% year over year. The price of food away from home rose significantly more: 4.1% year over year.
On the company’s earnings call Thursday, Walmart U.S. CEO John Furner pointed to a newer tool in Walmart’s arsenal that it can use to compete more aggressively with restaurants: its new grocery brand, Bettergoods.
The premium line includes unique flavors and merchandise tailored for more health-conscious customers or ones with a special diet, such as gluten-free or plant-based items. For example, it includes strawberries and cream-flavored Greek yogurt, curry chicken empanadas, restaurant-style chicken wings and salted caramel oat milk ice cream.
Seventy percent of the brand’s items are under $5, Furner said — a price point that may catch the eye of shoppers “trying to feed a family of four, five, [or] six.”
— CNBC’s Amelia Lucas contributed to this report. More

Roche said its experimental weight loss drug showed promising results in an early-stage trial, boosting the company’s bid to compete in the booming market for those treatments.
The Swiss company joined a slate of drugmakers racing to develop obesity drugs, like Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy and Eli Lilly’s Zepbound.
Roche’s weekly injection, CT-388, helped patients with obesity lose 18.8% of their weight relative to those who received a placebo, after 24 weeks in the phase one trial.

A logo at the Roche Holding AG headquarters in Basel, Switzerland, on Thursday, Feb. 1, 2024.
Bloomberg | Getty Images

Roche on Thursday said its experimental weight loss drug showed promising results in an early-stage trial, boosting the company’s bid to compete in the booming market for those treatments.
The Swiss company joined a slate of drugmakers racing to develop obesity drugs through its almost $3 billion acquisition of Carmot Therapeutics in December. But its weekly weight loss injection, called CT-388, is still years away from entering the market.

The weight loss drug space is dominated by treatments from Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly, and some analysts say the market will be worth $100 billion by the end of the decade.
Roche’s CT-388 helped patients with obesity lose 18.8% of their weight relative to those who received a placebo, after 24 weeks in the phase one trial, the company said.
Roche added that all of the patients who received the drug lost more than 5% of their weight. Meanwhile, 70% of those people lost more than 15% of their weight, and 45% lost more than 20%.
The treatment works by mimicking the effect of two gut hormones — GLP-1 and GIP — to suppress a person’s appetite, just like Eli Lilly’s popular weight loss drug Zepbound and diabetes injection Mounjaro.
Scientists have hypothesized that targeting those two hormones could have a meaningful effect on weight loss and blood sugar levels with fewer side effects than drugs that only target GLP-1, such as Novo Nordisk’s weight loss treatment Wegovy.

Roche’s CT-388 is being developed to treat both obesity and diabetes.
Roche said it did not observe any new or unexpected side effects in patients taking CT-388. The company noted that mild to moderate gastrointestinal side effects were the most common, consistent with other weight loss and diabetes drugs that work the same way.
CT-388 also normalized blood sugar levels in a subgroup of patients with pre-diabetes.
Roche said it is testing CT-388 in an additional group of patients with obesity and diabetes over 12 weeks. The company expects data from those patients in the second half of the year.
Eli Lilly’s Zepbound delivered up to 22% weight loss after 72 weeks, while Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy has led to 15% weight loss after 68 weeks.

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