This week in drug discovery (19-23 May)
News round-up for 19-23 May by DDW Senior Digital Content Editor Diana Spencer.
Our news highlights this week focus on drug discovery for metabolic diseases, with a number of developments in treatments for obesity, liver disease, and diabetes.
The top stories:
GSK buys drug with potential to reverse liver fibrosis
GSK has announced plans to acquire efimosfermin, a Phase III-ready potential best-in-class specialty medicine to treat and prevent progression of steatotic liver disease (SLD).
More efficient next-gen obesity clinical trials needed, says survey
ICON has released the findings of a survey of 155 biotech and pharma professionals from across the US and Europe, focusing on multi-indication cardiometabolic R&D for therapies targeting obesity and its comorbidities.
Novel GPR119 agonist shows promise in MASH and diabetes
MetaVia has announced that data from its Phase IIa clinical trial of DA-1241, a novel G-Protein-Coupled Receptor 119 (GPR119) agonist, in patients with presumed metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH), demonstrates both hepatoprotective and glucose-regulating effects.
Weight loss with muscle preservation for novel drug
MitoRx Therapeutics has shared results for its novel small molecule Myo4 targeting obesity at the 32nd European Congress on Obesity. In the diet induced obesity (DIO) mouse model, Myo4 reduced weight while preserving muscle and bone mineral content.
Partners develop enhanced formulation of obesity candidate
Arecor Therapeutics and Skye Bioscience have agreed a formulation development collaboration to develop a novel, higher concentration formulation of Skye’s CB1 inhibitor, nimacimab.