Therapeutics

Obesity & Cardiometabolic Diseases

Developing Breakthrough Antibody Therapeutics for Obesity and Cardiometabolic Diseases

We are developing breakthrough therapeutics for treating obesity and related cardiometabolic diseases to help people achieve high quality, durable weight loss and better overall metabolic health. While current glucagon-like peptide-1 receptors (GLP-1s) have led to significant weight loss and improved health for many clinically obese patients, a new generation of therapeutics is needed to overcome their shortcomings, such as loss of muscle mass while on treatment, inconvenient dosing, and side effects that lead some patients to discontinue therapy.

Our pipeline is initially focused on highly validated targets within the transforming growth factor beta (TGF-β) superfamily believed to inhibit muscle growth and balance calorie intake with calorie expenditure. By “inhibiting the inhibitors,” our therapeutic candidates have the potential to help patients retain and build muscle mass during and after weight loss with GLP-1s, while enhancing fat specific weight-loss for better health.

Why Myostatin?

Myostatin, a member of the TGF-β superfamily, is a protein expressed by muscle cells that suppresses muscle growth. We are developing, for the first time, anti-myostatin therapeutics specifically tailored to treating obesity.

IBIO-600 Potential Benefits and Differentiation

Long-acting, first-in-class antibody targeting myostatin
Well-tolerated for long-term use
Infrequent dosing
Subcutaneous self-administration

Myostatin x Activin A Bispecific Potential Benefits and Differentiation

Long-acting, first-in-class bispecific antibody
Simultaneously inhibits myostatin and Activin A, another muscle-growth inhibitor
Potent obesity treatment capable of generating pronounced muscle growth
Treatment for pulmonary hypertension in heart failure with preserved ejection fraction, (PH-HfpEF) the most common type of heart failure
Bispecific enables highly selective inhibition of multiple inhibitors, unlike ligand trap approaches, which may block additional signaling molecules

Activin E

Along with Myostatin, we’re targeting Activin E, another member of the TGF-β superfamily. Genetic variations of Activin E have been associated with excess body fat, particularly around the waist, a condition possibly leading to diabetes and cardiovascular disease. By blocking Activin E, we aim to promote fat-specific weight loss and reduce the risk of cardiometabolic diseases.

Activin E Antagonist Potential Benefits and Differentiation

First-in-class Activin E blocking antibody; a novel mechanism for pharmacological intervention
Compatibility with anti-myostatin for bispecific development
Fat-selective weight loss without impact on appetite
Extended half-life for infrequent dosing every 2-3 months

Driving our cardiometabolic and obesity pipeline is iBio’s artificial intelligence-enabled discovery platform, an integrated technology stack for advancing antibodies against difficult targets. We’re using this scalable platform for chronic diseases such as obesity, with an eye toward other diseases where we can enhance quality of life, health span, and longevity.