AstraZeneca makes big push into weight-loss market with obesity pill deal

AstraZeneca reported a 5% rise in revenues to $33.8bn in the first nine months of the year. Photograph: Alex Plavevski/EPA

AstraZeneca is making a big push into the weight-loss drug market, striking an exclusive licence agreement with a Chinese company for an obesity and type 2 diabetes pill that is in early stage development.

Britain’s biggest drugmaker said it had agreed a deal with Eccogene, based in Shanghai, for an experimental drug named ECC5004 that would also treat cardiometabolic conditions such as heart disease and stroke. Obesity and diabetes affect more than 1 billion people globally. Eccogene will receive up to $2bn (£1.6bn) under the terms of the deal.