Jan 30 (Reuters) - Regeneron Pharmaceuticals' executives voiced confidence in its experimental weight-loss drug on Friday, saying added cholesterol-lowering benefits could ‌give the company an edge in an increasingly crowded obesity market.

Several drugmakers are looking to grab a slice of the potential $150 billion weight-loss ⁠drug market, aiming to challenge the dominace of Novo Nordisk's Wegovy and Eli Lilly's Zepbound.

Last year, Regeneron signed an ‌up to $2 billion licensing deal with Hansoh Pharmaceuticals for the experimental drug olatorepatide, which it believes is comparable to Eli Lilly's Zepbound.

Regeneron executives said on a post-earnings call the company aims to leverage a "differentiated opportunity" to break into the lucrative sector.

"Imagine if someone had invented a new GLP, which in addition to delivering profound weight loss, could also lower ⁠bad cholesterol by 50% to 60%, it would create an important and differentiated opportunity for ​the many ⁠obese patients," said Chief Scientific Officer George Yancopoulos.

This year, the company plans to start late-stage trials of the drug for obesity in patients with and without Type 2 diabetes, ‌and initiate studies evaluating it in combination with cholesterol ‌drug Praluent.

Since currently approved weight-loss drugs ​do not meaningfully lower bad cholesterol, ‌the experimental combination aims to treat the large population who also suffer from hyperlipidemia, a condition with abnormally high levels of lipids, such as cholesterol and triglycerides, the company said.

Regeneron said it was encouraged by data from China, where the drug ​has advanced to late-stage development.

BMO analyst Evan Seigerman told Reuters that ​while ⁠he appreciates Regeneron's strategy of pairing its asset with other therapeutics, he is concerned over the cost of development and if there is ‍a true unmet need to combine a weight-loss drug with a cholesterol-lowering drug.

"We don't necessarily want to just compete just for the weight loss. A lot of people are just ‌so focused on the weight loss... We want to take this to a ​whole another place where we're adding a completely new benefit," said Yancopoulos.

(Reporting by Gnaneshwar Rajan and Sriparna Roy in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar)