RGT-075

SAN ANTONIO — As the GLP-1 class has taken over in recent years, a once-fringe conference has come into the spotlight for the biopharma industry. ObesityWeek, which started in 2013, attracted more than 3,200 attendees over the past four days in San Antonio, according to conference organizers. Viking , Zealand , AstraZeneca and others presented clinical data and researchers showcased posters on animal models of next-generation medicines and delivered real-world analyses of obesity and its many comorbidities. The conference has grown from a basic science confab to one with big pharma booths and crowds of investors and analysts who huddle around data presentations, including a clogged aisle surrounding Viking’s posters on Sunday evening. “Folks here have known that this is a chronic and serious disease for decades and been trying to get that message out,” Nadia Ahmad, an associate VP who runs Eli Lilly’s Phase 3 obesity trials, said in an interview with Endpoints News on the sidelines of the conference. “So, if anything, you see here a sense of affirmation and hope because this is the group that has struggled so hard for decades to get the message out.” Below are some on-the-ground takeaways from the conference. ‘Foodies’ email: Before the conference started, organizers reached out to attendees with the subject line: “Attention Foodies! Where to Eat in San Antonio.” Within steps of the conference venue is the San Antonio Riverwalk, which is home to a lovely path lined with restaurant after restaurant and bar after bar. It’s personal: Structure Therapeutics CEO Raymond Stevens said his sister was on Wegovy for about a year but was just denied continued insurance coverage last week because her weight had come down. “Now they’ll no longer cover it, which is just maddening because it changed her life,” Stevens said. His biotech is working on small molecules to address the accessibility challenges and manufacturing hurdles of the GLP-1 class and other mechanisms, as well, including amylin. Branding differences: Novo Nordisk opted for large Wegovy signage in the exhibit hall and throughout the convention center, whereas Eli Lilly drew attention to its booth with a massive red banner displaying the company’s name. AstraZeneca also had a large square-shaped sign, with the phrase “What science can do” floating above its booth. The UK pharma also had an interactive display. Genetic obesity: Some researchers presented genetic forms of obesity. Congruence Therapeutics outlined its work in MC4R-deficient genetic obesity, which can impact children as little as a few years old, said chief scientific officer Sharath Hegde. The Canadian biotech’s oral small molecule will likely move into the clinic late next year, he said. A CB1 comeback? : Corbus Pharmaceuticals and Skye Bioscience presented preclinical data on their CB1 programs two months after Novo toplined its Phase 2 data. The field is relatively scarce, Corbus CEO Yuval Cohen said, as “this was a class that was deemed untouchable, in effect, following rimonabant’s downfall in 2007.” The obesity drug was pulled in Europe after concerns of mental health side effects. Corbus’ asset will enter the clinic early next year and is less brain-penetrant than rimonabant and Novo’s monlunabant, Cohen said. Main lecture hall named after a historical mayor: The 2,319-seat Lila Cockrell Theatre — where researchers presented long-term data on Lilly’s Zepbound and Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy, among other keynote talks at the conference — is named after the first female mayor of San Antonio. At the time, in the mid-70s, Cockrell was one of the only female mayors of a major city. So many clinical trials: With a long list of obesity medicines now in the clinic, could it become harder to find ideal or “sophisticated and skilled” clinical trial sites? “Is it close to saturation? I don’t think so,” said Philip Just Larsen, CEO of preclinical startup SixPeaks Bio. “But at least in oncology, we’ve seen that access to the right trial sites, the right patients in certain academic centers, did turn out to comprise a real bottleneck. I don’t see it the same way for weight management trials and obesity drugs, but it could be that you would have to resort to trial sites that are not top of the league.” Each patient is different: Many conference speakers and attendees noted obesity is a heterogeneous disease and that patients will respond differently to drugs. “Just as there are 200 medications for diabetes or hypertension, I think that’s where we’re going in terms of obesity treatment, and we will get there, but what we really need to do is the research to understand the different types of obesity,” said Ania Jastreboff, director of the Yale Obesity Research Center, during a presentation on Zepbound SURMOUNT-1 results. Have a TikToker moment: A TikTok-style ring light gave an optimal glow for attendees to take selfies in front of an Obesity Society backdrop. Partnering: Biotechs must stand out if they want to find a pharma partner at this stage in the obesity drug R&D revolution. It’s “not an area you go half-hearted,” said Regor CEO Xiayang Qiu. The biotech has raised about $130 million to date, he said and just sold a cancer drug candidate to Roche. Regor will start a Phase 2b in the coming months for its once-daily, oral small molecule GLP-1 agonist RGT-075, he said. The company hasn’t presented Phase 2a data yet. Some MASH talk: The fatty liver disease has become a bigger focus in recent quarters with Madrigal Pharmaceuticals’ landmark FDA approval and Novo’s Wegovy readout last week. Eccogene, the company that sold an oral GLP-1 to AstraZeneca last year, plans to enter Phase 2 in MASH around the middle of 2025, CEO Jingye Zhou told Endpoints. ‘Bark park’: Of course, there had to be dogs. The friendly animals could be seen on the main exhibit floor. Attendees even had the chance to adopt them.