Apart from boasting big players in the space of metabolic diseases including Novo Nordisk and Zealand Pharma, Copenhagen is a hotspot for research on obesity and diabetes. This week we had a look at Copenhagen’s latest addition to the field, Antag Therapeutics.
Mission: Antag Therapeutics is working on new treatments for the growing number of patients with obesity. Based on the research of Mette M. Rosenkilde and Jens J. Holst at the University of Copenhagen, the biotech has identified a naturally occurring peptide antagonist of the Glucose-dependent Insulinotropic Polypeptide (GIP) receptor.
This receptor plays a major role in glucose homeostasis and lipid metabolism with known effects on obesity and insulin resistance. The biotech is currently planning for proof-of-concept studies in non-human primates before moving into the clinic.
Comment: Most obesity products on the market enable a weight loss of about 10%, but all strategies are associated with significant side effects. Antag hopes that using a naturally occurring inhibitor of GIP could avoid this issue. The leading Nordic VC Novo Seeds seems to be convinced of the idea. The VC has been backing the research team since 2014 and just handed the biotech a €2.7M Seed Investment.
Images via shutterstock.com / LaMiaFotografia and antagtherapeutics.com