The Maryland-based biopharma joins Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk in trialing a GLP-1 agonist for alcohol- and liver-related conditions.
Altimmune is looking to compete with the bigwigs in obesity, expanding the testing of its GLP-1/glucagon agonist into patients with alcohol-related disorders. During a virtual R&D event hosted Thursday, the company said a Phase II trial of pemvidutide for alcohol use disorder (AUD) will start during the second quarter of this year, while another Phase II trial for alcohol-related liver disease will begin in the third quarter.
“In our view, AUD and [alcohol-related liver disease] are logical extensions for evaluation of pemvidutide’s efficacy, given its mechanisms of action,” William Blair analysts Andy Hsieh and Alexandra Ramsey said in a note to investors early Friday. Shares of the company are up about 4% this morning following the news.
At the R&D event, Altimmune highlighted the link between both alcohol use and obesity in exacerbating damage to the liver. The primary endpoint for the liver disease study will be liver stiffness, a proxy for liver health that’s less invasive than a biopsy, while the primary endpoint for the AUD study will be change in the number of heavy drinking days after 24 weeks of treatment.
Altimmune is now the latest in a suite of obesity drugmakers trying to broaden indications into alcohol use. Eli Lilly has its GLP-1 agonist mazdutide in a Phase II trial for AUD, while Novo Nordisk is testing the effectiveness of semaglutide, an amylin analogue and an FGF21 analogue in alcoholic liver disease. Treatment of liver damage is the trial’s primary endpoint, with alcohol use as a secondary endpoint.
Last summer, Altimmune unveiled data from its Phase II MOMENTUM trial testing pemvidutide in obesity, touting 15.6% weight loss at the drug’s highest dose. The company tried to differentiate that result from other obesity drugs by noting that only about one-fifth of that weight loss was due to loss of lean muscle mass, while the rest was fat loss. Altimmune is also testing pemvidutide in the Phase II IMPACT study in metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH).
The company is searching for a partner to help push pemvidutide into Phase III trials, according to the William Blair analysts.
