While Wegovy, Ozempic and Zepbound soar, other weight loss medications are struggling.

Pfizer shares sank Friday when the drugmaker announced that it was abandoning a twice-daily obesity treatment after more than half the patients in a clinical trial stopped taking it

Pfizer is shelving development of a twice-daily version of its weight loss drug after a trial proved users reported high rates of adverse side effects.

Pfizer Inc.’s stock tumbled 6% Friday, after the company said it would not move to a Phase 3 trial of a twice-daily formulation of a weight-loss drug after patients in an earlier study had a lot of side effects.

Before successful weight loss treatments such as Wegovy and Ozempic, the pharmaceutical path to treating obesity was strewn with failures dating back decades.

Pfizer's new experimental weight-loss pill worked in achieving its stated goal — but with that weight loss came some pretty gnarly-sounding side effects. In a press release, the pharmaceutical giant said that it was discontinuing clinical trials for danuglipron,

Pfizer capitalized on COVID-19, but obesity is proving to be a tougher animal. Why it matters: For pharmaceutical companies, health crises are opportunities. And for those that can crack the code, weight-loss drugs are shaping up to be big business.

Key Takeaways Pfizer ended a study of a twice-a-day weight-loss pill because of negative side effects.The drug maker indicated the treatment was effective, but too many patients stopped taking it after becoming ill.