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Diving brief:
- Walgreens has signed a clinical trial agreement with leading German drugmaker Boehringer Ingelheim.
- As part of the agreement, Walgreens will find candidates who are overweight, have obesity or diabetes and enter them into a phase III clinical trial for Boehringer's GLP-1 drug. survodutide, according to a press release.
- Walgreens launched its clinic testing company in 2022 as part of the company's broader pivot into healthcare services. Since then, Walgreens has signed more than 35 clinical trial agreements with life sciences companies, according to a spokesperson.
Dive overview:
A number of pharmacy giants have launched clinical trial units in recent years, including Walgreens, WalmartCVS and Krogercreating new sources of revenue from drug manufacturers willing to pay a lot of money to find participants in trials and studies.
The companies say their national infrastructure and extensive patient data allow them to connect with a wide range of patients, helping pharmaceutical companies reach a broader and more diverse patient pool. As a result, drugmakers can apparently fill trials more quickly through targeted recruitment campaigns and achieve overall savings, while still alleviate the long-standing problem of bias in the test populations.
However, CVS closed its clinical trial activity about a year ago, amid questions about the unit's financial success.
Still, companies like Walgreens have stepped up their efforts and struck new deals with drugmakers.
At a health conference in March, Walgreens CEO Tim Wentworth said clinical trials are an attractive business in part because of the low underlying costs, given that Walgreens already has its network of 9,000 brick-and-mortar pharmacies.
According to Walgreens, more than 75% of Americans live within five miles of one of its stores.
Now, German company Boehringer is looking to leverage the Walgreens brand and community reach to convince people to enroll in the next phase of clinical trials of survodutide, the company's co-developed GLP-1 drug with Danish drugmaker Zealand Pharma.
The medicine has already passed safety and effectiveness tests and is now moving on to a phase III trial, which compares its effectiveness to existing treatments.
Boehringer also partners with search site provider EmVenio Research will use its mobile research units to extend its reach further into communities and provide potential participants with more options for a trial site.
Demand has exploded for GLP-1s, short for glucagon-like peptide 1 agonists, to treat obesity and others cardiometabolic terms. The drugs have shown real effectiveness in helping patients lose weight, but serious barriers to widespread access, including drug shortages and high prices, have made GLP-1s out of reach for all but a few. privileged.
Once the Phase III trial is completed, Boehringer may request a review of the drug by the Food and Drug Administration. If approved, it will compete with existing GLP-1s, including Novo Nordisk's Ozempic and Wegovy and Eli Lilly's Mounjaro.
A Walgreens spokesperson declined to comment on the financial terms of the deal.