Roche’s anti-myostatin therapy emugrobart is unlikely to elicit meaningful weight loss, according to an interim mid-stage analysis, prompting the pharma to return the asset rights to its subsidiary Chugai Pharmaceutical.
Roche will no longer advance an investigational obesity candidate—a move that BMO Capital Markets said “narrows” the pharma’s near-term strategy in the body composition obesity market.
Rights for the candidate, called emugrobart, will now revert back to Chugai Pharmaceutical, according to a Monday news release. In March this year, Roche also discontinued development of the anti-myostatin antibody for spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) and facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy, citing underwhelming efficacy.
In obesity, Roche was testing emugrobart in the Phase 2 GYMINDA trial to assess the efficacy and safety of the asset in combination with Eli Lilly’s approved weight loss blockbuster tirzepatide.
The decision to cut emugrobart “narrows Roche’s near-term body-composition strategy,” BMO analysts wrote on Monday. To stand out in the crowded obesity space, the pharma had been working on improving the quality of weight loss by minimizing the loss of lean mass. Emugrobart was designed to achieve this outcome by targeting myostatin, which limits the size and growth of skeletal muscles.
Other companies have also worked to disrupt myostatin’s action, including Biohaven with taldefgrobep alfa. Lilly previously tried this path with the antibody bimagrumab, though the pharma in September last year nixed the asset for strategic reasons.“The decision removes Roche’s myostatin-targeting approach from a competitive field and highlights the difficulties of pursuing obesity treatment approaches that are focused on preserving muscle during pharmacologic weight loss,” BMO Capital Markets wrote on Monday.
The company, however, pledged to keep going in obesity.
“Roche remains committed to advancing quality care for people living with obesity and related comorbidities,” a company spokesperson told BioSpace over email, pointing specifically to the pharma’s recent partnership with Hanmi Pharm to advance a non-incretin peptide therapy.
The asset, called HM17321, “represents a potential novel obesity treatment designed to promote weight loss, improve insulin sensitivity and increase muscle mass,” the Roche spokesperson added.
With rights to emugrobart under its wing, Chugai plans to resume the asset’s development for SMA, pointing to certain “clinical signals,” as well as the asset’s subcutaneous administration and safety profile, according to the Monday announcement.
Chugai is majority owned by Roche but maintains managerial independence and continues to earn from in-house products, which can be used to fund its own drug development. The subsidiary is looking to advance emugrobart into Phase 3, while still considering out-licensing options, according to the Monday announcement.
Roche’s obesity pipeline is headlined by assets obtained in the $2.7 billion takeover of Carmot Therapeutics in late 2023. Last week, the centerpiece of that deal, enicepatide, cut blood sugar and body weight in patients with type 2 diabetes who are overweight or have obesity. The GLP-1/GIP drug is in two late-stage studies for weight management. Also anchoring Roche’s obesity program is the Zealand Pharma-partnered amylin drug petrelintide.
