Roche has agreed to license an experimental obesity drug from China-based Rona Therapeutics in a deal worth up to about $1.16 billion, betting on a different way to reduce body fat. The drug uses RNA interference to quiet ALK7, a receptor found mainly in fat tissue, BioSpace reported. Neither company has released human trial data for the candidate, and its development stage was not disclosed.
The deal matters to the millions of Americans weighing today's weight-loss drugs. About 40% of U.S. adults had obesity in 2021 to 2023, according to the CDC, and many people on GLP-1 medications lose some muscle along with fat. Drugs that target fat more selectively could someday change that trade-off, but any such drug would need years of testing first.
