Research forum to present results of novel anti-obesity medications

Reviewed by James Ives, M.Psych. (Editor)Oct 31 2019

Rhythm Pharmaceuticals and Novartis will present findings from the latest stages of clinical evaluation of new anti-obesity medications during a special late-breaking research forum titled "Emerging Pharmacological Anti-obesity Therapies."

The research forum is part of the 37th Annual Meeting of The Obesity Society at ObesityWeek®. The conference will take place from Nov. 3-7, 2019, at Mandalay Bay South Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nev.

The research forum will include three presentations of the results of late-breaking phase 2 and phase 3 clinical studies of novel anti-obesity medications. The forum will also include a state-of-the art lecture describing several promising targets and medications in preclinical and early clinical development.

Titles of presentations and presenters will include:

• Bimagrumab, an Activin Receptor Antagonist for Treatment of Obesity and Type 2 Diabetes--Laura Coleman, PhD, RD, Director, Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research, Cambridge, Mass.
• Efficacy and Safety of the MC4R Agonist Setmelanotide in POMC Deficiency Obesity: A Phase 3 Trial--Peter Kühnen, MD, Institute for Experimental Pediatric Endocrinology, Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany.
• Efficacy and Safety of the MC4R Agonist Setmelanotide in LEPR Deficiency Obesity: A Phase 3 Trial--Erica Van Den Akker, MD, PhD, Erasmus MC-Sophia Children's Hospital in Rotterdam, Netherlands.

A panel presentation will be held to discuss clinical implications of emerging pharmacotherapeutic agents for obesity. Coleman, Kühnen and Van Den Akker will all participate on the panel.

Coleman will present data from Novartis on a 48-week, double-blind, phase 2 clinical trial investigating the safety and efficacy of bimagrumab on body composition and glycemic control.

The next two presentations are of preliminary data from two studies sponsored by Rhythm Pharmaceuticals, which is developing setmelanotide for the treatment melanocortin-4 receptor (MC4R) pathway-driven obesities, including pro-opio-melanocortin (POMC) deficiency obesity and leptin receptor (LEPR) deficiency obesity.

Kühnen is presenting preliminary data from a multi-center phase 3 trial evaluating setmelanotide for the treatment of patients with POMC deficiency obesity, and Van Den Akker is presenting preliminary data from the phase 3 trial evaluating setmelanotide for the treatment of LEPR deficiency obesity.

Both studies met their primary endpoints and all key secondary endpoints, demonstrating a statistically significant and clinically meaningful weight loss and reductions in insatiable hunger, or hyperphagia, in patients with POMC deficiency obesity and LEPR deficiency obesity, as Rhythm Pharmaceuticals reported in August.