Epitomee Ltd. happily swallowed the news of U.S. FDA clearance for its capsule for weight management, an ingestible medical device for adults who are overweight or obese. Designed for use along with diet and exercise, the capsule expands in the stomach to create a feeling of fullness that lasts up to six hours.

Amylin is a hormone co-secreted with insulin in the pancreas that has anorexigenic effects, since it promotes satiety and reduces food intake. Amylin analogs and dual agonists of the amylin and calcitonin receptors have been developed for treating obesity. Astrazeneca plc reported results with their AMYR3 agonist AZD-6234.

There has been growing interest in developing novel cannabinoid CB1 receptor inverse agonists to treat obesity and its metabolic comorbidities. At the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) meeting, Inversago Pharma Inc. presented data on their CB1 receptor inverse agonist INV-347. The compound was shown to reduce body weight in diet-induced obese mice.

Korro Bio Inc. has established a collaboration with Novo Nordisk A/S to advance the discovery and development of new genetic medicines, initially to treat cardiometabolic diseases. The collaboration brings together Novo Nordisk’s deep cardiometabolic disease understanding and drug development experience with Korro’s proprietary platform to develop RNA editing product candidates for two undisclosed targets.

Biolexis Therapeutics Inc. has announced findings from a study of its oral small-molecule GLP-1 agonist, BLX-7006, in a diet-induced obesity model in mice. In the study, BLX-7006 achieved an average weight reduction of 15% over a 28-day period.

Orsobio Inc. has closed an oversubscribed $67 million series B financing, the proceeds of which will be used to accelerate development of its mitochondrial protonophore portfolio for the treatment of obesity and associated metabolic disorders.

The dark matter of long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) is shades brighter, after the signing of two major deals between biotech pioneers and big pharma in the past week. Haya Therapeutics SA announced Sept. 4 that it has sealed a multiyear agreement with Eli Lilly and Co. to apply its lncRNA platform technology to identify targets in obesity and related metabolic disorders.