Response Pharmaceuticals has shared phase 2 data in post-GLP-1 patients, linking its ex-Sanofi asset to reductions in blood-fat levels and weight gain in previous users of obesity drugs.
People experience significant weight loss on GLP-1 drugs such as Eli Lilly’s Zepbound and Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy. However, studies show many people stop taking the medicines and regain lost weight, creating a need for interventions that enable patients to keep the pounds off. Response, which initially targeted antipsychotic-induced weight gain, sees RDX-002 as an asset that can address the post-GLP-1 need.
Pursuing the opportunity, the biotech randomized 68 people to receive the oral iMTP inhibitor RDX-002 or placebo for 12 weeks in a phase 2 trial. The participants had all lost 10% of their body weight or 10 kg while taking Zepbound or Wegovy before discontinuing the drugs.
Response linked RDX-002 to a statistically significant reduction in blood-fat levels after eating, hitting the primary endpoint of the trial. The biotech also hit a secondary endpoint that looked at weight gain after GLP-1 discontinuation.
No patients suffered serious adverse events or discontinued treatment. Response said patients had mild to moderate gastrointestinal adverse events that generally resolved early in treatment. The company will share full data from the study at an upcoming medical meeting.
RDX-002 targets a protein that is involved in the transfer of triglycerides. The FDA approved an inhibitor of MTP, Aegerion Pharmaceuticals’ Juxtapid, as a lipid-lowering drug in 2012. Companies including Bristol Myers Squibb and Sanofi, which licensed RDX-002 to Response, have also studied the mechanism.
William Sasiela, Ph.D., chief medical officer at Response, said in a statement that the mechanism may offer a “differentiated and complementary approach to help patients maintain and, over the long term, enhance the health benefits they achieve with GLP-1s.” The company sees opportunities to test its drug candidate in combination with GLP-1 receptor agonists.