7:30 am Morning Refreshments
8:20 am Chair’s Opening Remarks
Exploring Beyond the Incretin Boom to Investigate Next-Generation Biological Pathways & Pioneer Non-GLP-1 Modalities
8:30 am Session Reserved
9:00 am Survodutide Responses Across Diet-Induced, Polygenic, and Outbred Mouse Models
- Survodutide robustly reduced body weight and fat mass in DIO mice by significantly enhancing energy expenditure, but was accompanied by lean mass loss not seen in other models
- Polygenic NZO/HILtJ and Diversity Outbred mice showed effective fat mass reduction and lean mass preservation without increased energy expenditure, demonstrating that this effect is model-dependent rather than a universal GLP-1/GCGR pharmacological effect
- Diversity Outbred mice revealed striking inter-individual variability in survodutide response, highlighting the power of genetically diverse preclinical platforms for advancing precision medicine in obesity and metabolic disease
9:30 am DNA-Encoded Metabolic Transformation by Leveraging In Vivo Protein Production to Redefine Durability & Dosing Paradigms Beyond Incretin Agonism
- Investigating a novel DNA-based platform for sustained in vivo GLP-1 production following a single administration
- Examining DNA electroporation for delivery of brain-targeted incretin mimetics for precise hunger modulation
- Assessing strategies for half-life extension of incretin to reduce dosing frequencies for improved patient adherence
10:00 am The New Gubra Muscle Evaluation Platform: An Innovative Approach For Pre-Clinical Assessment Of Muscle Mass And Health
- Muscle health is becoming increasingly important in obesity research, especially when distinguishing healthy weight loss from unwanted loss of muscle mass
- With our innovative whole-hindlimb muscle imaging we go beyond lean mass assessment, measuring anatomically precise, high-resolution and high-throughput 3D quantification of multiple morphological readouts across individual skeletal muscles
- Whole hind-limb imaging is combined with in vivo metabolic profiling, functional muscle assessments, and targeted histological analysis enabling more accurate assessment of muscle preservation and remodelling
10:10 am Leveraging In-Silico Designed Thermogenics to Activate Selective Lipid Degradation Pathways for Sustained Fat Loss
- Harnessing in-silico molecular design to engineer high-potency thermogenic candidates with superior target specificity, ensuring the activation of fat-burning pathways while avoiding the off-target cardiovascular effects common in historical thermogenic attempts
- Validating novel lipid-degradation variants through metagenomic adipocyte analysis and in-vitro lipolysis assays, providing a data-driven proof-of-concept for direct adipose tissue reduction independent of caloric intake
- Optimizing specificity for adipose tissue metabolism to inhibit lipid accumulation at the cellular level, delivering a durable metabolic solution that targets the root cause of obesity-related comorbidities
10:40 am Morning Break & Networking
11:40 am Replicating the Surgical “Gold Standard” by Utilizing a Synthetic TissueLining to Mimic Gastric Bypass via a Once-Daily Pill
- Utilizing a transient polydopamine polymer coating to precisely block nutrient absorption in the duodenum for 24 hours, providing a non-systemic “take-anytime” oral convenience that triggers the body’s natural satiety cascade (GLP-1 and PYY) without the gastrointestinal side effects of exogenous peptide hormones
- Matching the 1% weekly weight-loss efficacy observed in preclinical models while achieving 100% preservation of lean muscle mass, offering a potent oral alternative that solves the “muscle-wasting” crisis of current injectables and could capture significant market share among patients seeking “healthy” functional weight loss
- Optimizing the metabolic environment of the small intestine to ensure steady-state glycemic control and appetite suppression, bypassing the “peaks and troughs” of injectable delivery and establishing a sustainable, low-cost maintenance therapy that prevents the biological “rebound” of weight regain
12:10 pm Increasing Thermogenic Adipocytes to Treat Obesity & Cardiometabolic Diseases
- All currently approved obesity drugs act by reducing food intake, causing a drop in metabolic rate (thermogenesis) • To achieve durable weight control and cardiometabolic benefits, agents that increase metabolic rate are needed to complement existing therapies
- Energesis Pharmaceuticals is developing oral small molecules and proteins that boost energy expenditure – the missing therapeutic dimension in obesity treatment
- Energesis uses a proprietary platform of human brown/beige/brite adipocyte adult stem cells to discover novel targets and develop therapies that increase the amount of brown fat and induce long-term weight loss
- Our drug candidates drive robust fat-specific weight loss – without muscle loss – and show strong synergy with GLP-1 agents
12:40 pm Pharmacotherapeutic Benefits NBof GIP Receptor Antagonism in Weight Management
- GIPR antagonism sensitizes GLP-1 receptor agonists and amylin agonists to deliver more profound weight loss especially in clinical conditions with increased insulin resistance
- GIPR antagonism improves cardiovascular risk and shows promise of delivering healthy weight loss
Navigating the Race Between Injectable Peptides & Next-Gen Oral Small Molecules to Balance Peak Potency & Long-Term Adherence to Dominate the Maintenance Market
1:10 pm Engineering Small-Molecule Potency to Deliver Injectable-Strength Efficacy in a Scalable Daily Pill for Long-Term Treatment
- Engineering next-generation small-molecule GLP-1 platforms to bypass the gastric proteolytic barrier, utilizing high-potency synthetic chemistry to deliver therapeutic concentrations that achieve weight-loss efficacy comparable to high-dose injectables (~9.7% reduction in 16 weeks) without the need for complex peptide absorption enhancers
- Implementing an “Oral-First” clinical strategy where patients bypass injectable induction entirely or transition to a long-term oral maintenance continuum, allowing companies to protect market share by offering highly tolerable, needle-free options for life-long weight stability and enhanced patient adherence
- Optimizing large-scale synthetic small-molecule manufacturing processes to bypass the global constraints of “cold-chain” distribution and specialized injection hardware, ensuring consistent drug availability to meet the projected 40%+ annual growth in global patient demand across U.S. and Asian markets
1:40 pm Lunch
2:40 pm Differentiated Profile of AMB-702, a Next-Generation Oral Small Molecule GLP-1 Receptor Agonist Development Candidate
- The need for differentiated GLP-1 agonists, including small molecules with lower effective human dosing, a flatter peak-to-trough and a path to combinability with other agents
- Preclinical data supporting Ambrosia’s GLP-1 development candidate, including comparator data
3:10 pm Unique Targeting of the Gut for Metabolic Benefit
- Leveraging bariatric bypass clinical insights with novel oral small-molecule pharmaceuticals
- Synergy with rapidly evolving metabolic armamentarium
- Well-tolerated and effective early treatment choice alongside metformin and SGLT2s while complementing incretin-based therapies
3:40 pm Panel Discussion: The 2030 Vision – Shifting from Acute Weight Loss to Sustainable Disease Modification & Integrated Cardiometabolic Health
- Prioritizing the resolution of co-morbidities such as MASH, CKD, and heart failure to move beyond BMI reduction as the sole metric of clinical success, establishing obesity drugs as essential “foundation therapies” for lifelong cardiometabolic protection
- Implementing evidence-based “step-down” protocols, transitioning patients from high-dose injectable peptides to low-dose oral small molecules or RNA-based silencers to suppress the biological “rebound effect” after reaching goal weight for durable weight stability and higher long-term therapy persistence
- Integrating longitudinal data on physical function, hospitalization rates, and employment status to quantify the total economic value of long-term obesity treatment, providing a robust scientific justification for expanded reimbursement and universal patient access across diverse socioeconomic populations