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Altimmune on Wednesday said its experimental drug helped patients shed weight but in addition minimized the lack of muscle mass in a midstage trial, a finding that would set it apart in a potentially crowded market.
Altimmune is one among several smaller biotech firms which can be pushing to compete directly with Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly within the growing weight reduction drug space, or to get scooped up by larger drugmakers that may help bring their treatments to market.
The outcomes are an early sign that the biotech company can address a serious concern around those treatments, which have drawn unrelenting demand and investor interest over the past 12 months.
Some health experts have said that obesity drugs could shrink critical muscle mass, which could raise the chance of injuries and reduce strength.
But in Altimmune’s late-stage trial, greater than 74% of the burden that patients lost after taking the corporate’s weekly injection got here from fat tissue and only 25.5% got here from lean mass, based on the corporate. Those results are just like those often seen with weight loss plan and exercise programs for weight reduction.
Patients who took a 2.4-milligram dose of Altimmune’s drug every week for 48 weeks lost 15.6% of their weight on average within the trial, with weight reduction continuing at the top of treatment, the corporate said.
The corporate first announced that weight reduction data on the drug, called pemvidutide, in November.
“Preservation of lean mass during weight reduction is critical, since excessive lack of lean mass has been related to negative outcomes, corresponding to [a gradual loss of muscle mass and strength] and bone fractures, especially in women and the elderly,” Altimmune Chief Medical Officer Scott Harris said in an announcement. “There’s a growing appreciation that the standard of weight reduction is as necessary as the amount of weight reduction.”
In a clinical trial on semaglutide, the energetic ingredient in Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic and Wegovy, researchers examined the lack of lean muscle mass in a subgroup of about 140 patients. On average, participants lost about 15 kilos of lean muscle and 23 kilos of fat in the course of the 68-week trial.
Those results suggest a better rate of lean mass decline than in Altimmune’s trial. Still, Altimmune must conduct late-stage trials on its drug, so it’s too early to say how much of an edge it has over existing weight reduction treatments.
The 2 drugs also work otherwise.
Semaglutide mimics a hormone produced within the gut called GLP-1 to suppress an individual’s appetite. Meanwhile, Altimmune’s drug prompts GLP-1 and one other gut hormone called glucagon, which increases energy expenditure.
Altimmune can be developing that drug to treat a standard type of liver disease called metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis, or MASH.
Other makers of obesity drugs are also attempting to help patients maintain muscle mass.
For instance, Eli Lilly is testing whether combining its weight reduction drug with a monoclonal antibody from Versanis Bio might help patients shed some pounds while preserving muscle mass. The pharmaceutical giant recently acquired Versanis, which is a component of a slate of firms targeting the muscle-loss aspect of weight reduction.