Andrew Joseph covers health, medicine, and the biopharma industry in Europe. You can reach Andrew on Signal at drewqjoseph.71.

Roche plans to launch Phase 3 studies of its leading obesity candidate this quarter after reporting Tuesday that the drug led to significant weight loss in a mid-stage trial. 

The drug, known as CT-388, led to a placebo-adjusted weight loss of 18.3% after 48 weeks in the Phase 2 trial at the highest dose tested of 24 milligrams, the Swiss pharma said.

Roche said that patients were still losing weight at the end of the study period. Just under 6% of patients on the treatment dropped out of the trial due to side effects, which Roche said were largely the gastrointestinal symptoms seen broadly with new weight loss treatments, versus 1.3% of those in the placebo group. 

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