Structure’s experimental obesity pill shows no signs of liver injury

By Sriparna Roy

June 5 (Reuters) – Structure Therapeutics said on Friday its experimental GLP-1 obesity pill did not show any signs of drug-induced liver injury, and patients continued to lose weight even on the lower doses of the drug.

The company said only 10.4% of patients taking the experimental small molecule drug, aleniglipron, discontinued treatment.

The results were presented at the American Diabetes Association meeting in New Orleans and published in a medical journal.

The oral drug has been touted as a potential competitor to Eli Lilly’s Foundayo and Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy pill.

Patients on Structure’s once-daily pill lost up to 39 ​lbs on the 180 mg dose after 44 weeks, compared with a placebo, in a mid-stage trial, the company had reported in March. Patients on the higher 240 mg dose lost 37 lbs or 16% of their weight.

In December, the drug had shown weight loss of up to 15.3% with 240 mg dose ​at 36 weeks. Patients taking the 120 mg dose showed a placebo-adjusted mean weight loss of 11.3%.

On Friday, the company said participants who remained on drug in the open-label extension continued to lose weight after a median follow up of 20 weeks, with weight loss of 13.3%, 16.2%, and 15.3% in participants who took 45 mg, 90 mg, and 120 mg doses of aleniglipron, respectively.

There was also no weight-loss plateau, which Julio Rosenstock, chair of the aleniglipron program steering committee, said was an important distinction for a once-daily oral, non-peptide GLP-1 receptor agonist to potentially become an additional treatment option for patients.

The company said it saw improved tolerability at a lower 2.5 mg starting dose, adding the data supports the design of its late stage program set to begin in the third quarter of 2026.

Wall Street has been focused on better tolerability as a point of differentiation between obesity drugs. Aleniglipron is a oral pill and could appeal more to patients than injectable therapies.

Aleniglipron continues to look competitive on efficacy and there is potential for improved tolerability in the late-stage trial, said J.P. Morgan analyst Hardik Parikh.

The most commonly occurring side effects with aleniglipron were gastrointestinal, including nausea, diarrhea, vomiting and constipation.

Structure said a review of each patient’s dosing over the course of the study shows that while some required dose interruptions or reductions, vomiting rarely recurred once treatment was resumed or the dose was increased again.

Serious adverse effects occurred in one participant who received the 45 mg doses, none who took 90 mg and four participants receiving 120 mg.

(Reporting by Sriparna Roy and Siddhi Mahatole in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur)