Gubra A/S has announced the submission in Germany of a clinical trial application (CTA) for a first-in-human study of GUB-UCN2, the company’s lead asset for weight loss. The planned phase I/IIa trial will enroll both healthy volunteers and individuals with obesity, with and without related co-morbidities. GUB-UCN2 is expected to enter clinical development in the first half of this year.
Breezebio Inc., formerly known as Genedit Inc., has closed $60 million in series B financing to advance its first internal therapeutic programs toward the clinic and to continue expansion of the company’s Nanogalaxy delivery platform.
Porosome Therapeutics Inc. has announced the development of novel first-in-class porosome-targeting small molecules and blood-brain barrier-traversing peptide drugs developed using the company’s Porosome.AI platform to treat various secretory disorders, such as Alzheimer’s disease and type 2 diabetes.
Insilico Medicine Inc. has identified new glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor (GLP-1R) agonists potentially useful for the treatment of atherosclerosis, coronary heart diseases, dementia, diabetes, hypertension, obesity, hyperlipidemia and cerebral infarction.
Tessera Therapeutics Inc.’s lead in vivo gene editing program, TSRA-196, has been awarded orphan drug and fast track designations by the FDA for adults with α-1 antitrypsin deficiency (AATD).
Researchers from Imperial College London and collaborators further investigated C/EBPβ as a target for MASLD and evaluated the efficacy of a C/EBPβ-targeted siRNA approach to reverse metabolic dysfunction and restore liver function in high-fat-diet-induced steatosis, which can be precursor to MASH and hepatocellular carcinoma.
In previous work, researchers from CEINGE (Naples, Italy) and collaborating institutions developed an alternative gene therapy strategy based on the expression of a secreted fusion protein, including the extracellular portion of the human LDLR for LDL binding, linked to rabbit transferrin (TF), targeting the transferrin receptor (TFr), resulting in internalization and uptake of LDL particles. They have now published more recent work to further improve the efficacy and safety of this strategy.
On the average, humans – and pigs, and deer, and birds – who live at high altitudes have better blood glucose control than their counterparts near sea level. In work published in the Feb. 19, 2026, issue of Cell Metabolism, investigators have linked this phenomenon to red blood cells that directly take up and metabolize glucose from the blood under low oxygen conditions.
In the inflamed joints of rheumatoid arthritis, CD4+ T lymphocytes accumulate lipid droplets that make them vulnerable and promote their death, thereby amplifying joint inflammation. A study led by scientists at Mayo Clinic and Stanford University suggests that blocking the formation of these lipid droplets or their contents could offer a therapeutic strategy for this condition.