China’s Harbour BioMed has launched a new biotech to develop bispecific antibodies focused on the holy grail of next-gen obesity meds—reducing body weight without losing muscle mass.
The new entity, called Élancé Therapeutics, will use Harbour’s own BioMed's HCAb-based bispecific antibody tech as well as the Hu-mAtrIx AI platform from its Nona Biosciences subsidiary to “develop innovative therapies addressing key challenges in current obesity treatment, including muscle preservation and long-term efficacy,” according to the March 12 release.
“Our bispecific antibody programs enable a new paradigm in obesity treatment by targeting multiple pathways in a precise and effective manner,” Harbour’s CEO Jingsong Wang, M.D., Ph.D., said in the release.
“With a focus on optimizing weight loss efficacy, preserving lean muscle mass, and improving long-term outcomes, we believe our approach has the potential to redefine obesity therapeutics,” Wang added.
Élancé’s pipeline of “multiple” bispecific antibodies, which are all in preclinical development, have the “potential to complement and expand upon existing treatment options, including various agonists of GLP-1 receptor, GIP receptor, and GCG receptor,” Harbour said in the release.
Related
Harbour ships phase 3 data to take lead over argenx, J&J and UCB in Chinese autoimmune race
Fierce Biotech has asked Harbour how much funding Élancé is launching with.
A number of other biopharmas are chasing the same holy grail of treating obesity without losing muscle. They include Veru, Altimmune and Rivus Pharmaceuticals, which have all unveiled phase 2 data showing their weight loss candidates could preserve muscle.
Meanwhile, Roche is hoping that combining an injectable dual GLP-1/GIP receptor agonist acquired from Carmot alongside its own anti-myostatin antibody could also help patients reduce the muscle loss typically associated with losing weight.
Harbour has already waved off another antibody offshoot in the form of HBM Alpha Therapeutics, which sold the ex-China rights for a preclinical corticotropin-releasing hormone therapy to an unnamed partner last month for $395 million in biobucks.