CONFERENCE DAY ONE
June 12, 2024
7:45 am Check In & Coffee
8:25 am Chair’s Opening Remarks
Prioritizing Lean Muscle Mass Preservation in the Face of Profound Weight Loss
8:30 am Dissecting Muscle Preservation as Future Pharmacotherapeutic Mainstay of Weight Management
Synopsis
- Charactering the role skeletal muscle in energy homeostasis and fuel metabolism to guide innovative weight management therapies
- Exploiting the TGF-B superfamily pathway for preservation of skeletal muscle mass during extensive periods of negative energy balance
- Manipulating mitochondrial uncouplers to balance muscle preservation
9:00 am Underneath the Lost Kilos: Imaging the Effects of Weight Loss in Clinical Trials
Synopsis
- The importance of understanding weight loss of novel anti-obesity drugs and the differentiated effects of different drug mechanisms
- How imaging can be used in drug development to further the understanding of where the weight is actually lost using body and muscle composition as well as looking at other ectopic fat depots
- Imaging can be used to investigate the effects of weight loss on downstream organs and disease states including the liver, kidney, and heart
9:30 am Speed Networking
Synopsis
This session is the ideal opportunity to take advantage of the face-to-face networking time and engage with others who are also prioritising obesity and weight loss drug development.
10:15 am Morning Break
Lost in Translation – Advancements of Accurate Models for Mechanistic Insights & Targeted Treatments
10:45 am The Free Choice Diet-Induced Obese hamster: a translational drug efficacy model for human obesity
Synopsis
- Utility and limits of the widely used diet-induced obese mouse model
- Describing the free choice diet-induced obese hamster as a new translational model
- How the hamster helps demonstrating therapies potential for patients: weight loss, food preference, alcohol intake, dyslipidemia, MASH and HFpEF
11:15 am Implementing Genetic Findings to Drug Development Through Microphysiological Systems & In Vivo Methods
Synopsis
- Assessing how genetic variants impact the MoA of obesity
- Investigating the use of microphysiological systems for novel obesity therapeutic development
- Manipulating multicellular organoids to replicate human level models for obesity, liver disease and NASH
Evolving Polypharmacy in the Incretin Obesity Space: Maximising the Potential of the GLP Class Through Combinational Approaches
11:45 am Evaluating Therapeutic Opportunities to Preserve Skeletal Muscle Mass and Enhance Fat Loss During GLP-1 Receptor Agonism
Synopsis
- Assessing the impact of GLP-1 receptor agonists on skeletal muscle mass and function
- Manipulating skeletal muscle to enhance the functional and metabolic benefits of weight loss
- Using animal models to understand the specific influence of muscle and fat tissue on systemic metabolism during weight loss
12:15 pm Using Whole Brain Imaging to Quantify the Effects of Obesity Drugs in the Mouse Brain
Synopsis
- Whole brain imaging can be used to visualize drug distribution, receptor engagement and downstream drug effects
- In combination with advanced image analysis these endpoints can be quantified at a whole brain level
- By mapping the data to a reference brain, the resulting data can be overlapped with other types of data such a bench mark drugs, receptor maps and spatial transcriptomics
12:45 pm Lunch Break & Networking
1:45 pm Widening the Therapeutic Index & Overcoming the Negative Class Effects of GLP Drugs Through Incretin Combination Therapy
Synopsis
- Complementary GLP treatment approaches to minimise adverse reactions
- Demonstrating the potential of CCK mediated gut-brain signalling for safe, effective, and additive treatment for obesity and other indications
- Hunger vs appetite and selection of optimal therapeutic modalities
2:15 pm Elevating Safety & Adherence Through Feature Differentiation
Synopsis
- Addressing phenotype heterogeneity through combination drugs
- Translating learning from non-responsiveness to GLPs
- Redefining treatment based on differential comorbidities
2:45 pm AMRI-based Body Composition Reimagined: Building a New Foundation for Treatment Differentiation Beyond Weight Loss
Synopsis
- FDA-cleared MRI-based body composition analysis provides a new standard for muscle and fat quantification enabling translation from population studies and clinical trials all the way into healthcare
- Studies on Personalized Fat and Muscle Z-score biomarkers show improved prediction of outcomes and that weight- and BMI-invariant treatment effects can be detected
- Exploring the varying effects of the GLP-1 agonists liraglutide and tirzepatide on muscle and fat measurements in recent clinical trials
3:00 pm Afternoon Break & Scientific Poster Session
Synopsis
This session is a great opportunity to introduce yourself and your work to experts across biopharma. Enjoy face-to-face time and share your work with many of the brightest minds in the field, displaying scientific posters capturing the main advancements and challenges across preclinical, translational, and clinical obesity and weight loss drug development
3:45 pm Panel Discussion & Extended Q&A: Interrogating the Roadmap From Experimental to Validated – Moving Beyond GLP-1Rs into Poly-Pharmacology
4:15 pm Delving into GPCR Targets for Anti-Obesity Treatments – Hopes & Challenges
Synopsis
- Considering the power of human genetics genetic in target identification and MoA definition
- Understanding signalling bias as a key to achieving best therapeutic efficacy
- Unlocking the potential of GPCR targets beyond incretin receptors