The market for weight loss treatments is a crowded one, and new entrants are piling in. The latest in our Companies to Watch series of reports takes a look at 7 innovators with promising next-generation candidates in development, including GLP-1s as well as some newer modalities.
Obesity market momentum and the innovation imperative
As noted in this year’s Drugs to Watch report, the emergence of effective treatments for obesity is a critical industry trend that poses enormous opportunities as well as challenges. With obesity rates on track to exceed 50% by 2030, the therapeutic landscape has seen a 587% jump in U.S. glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonist (RA) prescriptions from 2019 to 2024. Although these agents deliver unprecedented weight loss plus cardiovascular, hepatic, renal and respiratory benefits, real-world challenges, including payer hurdles, supply and patent constraints, treatment discontinuation rates, tolerability issues and lean-mass loss, limit their durable impact. Patient-driven off-label sourcing of drugs like retatrutide prior to regulatory approval and a boom in high-value partnerships underscore the demand and set the stage for next-generation oral and ultra-long-acting formats, muscle-preserving adjuncts and novel non-incretin mechanisms to close these gaps (learn more about two of our 2026 Drugs to Watch, orforglipron/Foundayo™ and retatrutide, in this webinar, Navigating the Next Wave of GLP-1 Evolution and Beyond).
Deal dynamics fueling next-generation obesity assets
The deals landscape has entered a new phase of intensity, as established obesity players fortify their positions through mega-licensing and acquisitions while biotechs vie for a slice of the fast-growing market. After relatively steady activity from 2016 to 2023, deal volume for next-generation obesity assets nearly doubled from 2023 to 2024. High-stakes transactions, from Roche’s $5.3bn agreement for Zealand Pharma’s petrelintide to Pfizer’s $10bn acquisition of Metsera, underscore the premium on differentiated modalities. Simultaneously, Chinese companies are attracting multi-billion-dollar investments, highlighting the global priority for obesity innovations. This flurry of partnerships, collaborations and M&A activity makes clear that strategic deal-making is as vital as clinical differentiation in future obesity care.
Four innovation pillars addressing current obesity treatment gaps
Recent surges of activity across four innovation pillars, including oral delivery, ultra-long-acting dosing, muscle-preserving strategies and non-incretin mechanisms, aim to meet patient and physician demand for more convenient, durable and tolerable weight-loss treatments. Oral small molecules and peptides such as Eli Lilly and Co’s Foundayo and Structure Therapeutics’ aleniglipron provide easier oral dosing, while long-acting modalities (e.g., Amgen’s MariTide, Pfizer’s PF-08653944, RNAi platforms like Wave Life Sciences’ WVE-007) promise minimize dosing frequency, from monthly to potentially only once per year.
Meanwhile, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals’ trevogrumab and Veru Inc’s enobosarm work to preserve lean mass, and emerging non-incretin agents, including NLRP3 inhibitors (NodThera’s NT-0796, BioAge’s BGE-102) and amylin agonists, tackle underlying metabolic and inflammatory drivers. Together, these advances are poised to transform real-world outcomes and broaden access to effective obesity care.
Bridging regulatory guidance and novel trial design
Although the FDA’s 2025 draft guidance on obesity medicine development and the EMA’s 2017 weight management guideline mandate long-term, large-scale trials with a ≥5% placebo-corrected weight loss endpoint and extensive safety monitoring, this narrow focus can overlook therapies that drive meaningful improvements in body composition and metabolic health. Wave Life Sciences’ WVE-007, which modestly lowered scale weight but significantly reduced visceral fat and preserved muscle, highlights this gap. Early engagement with regulators to design co-primary or hierarchical endpoints (e.g., lean mass retention, fat-to-muscle ratio, biomarker shifts, functional measures) will be essential to align approval pathways with the full value of next-generation obesity treatments.
Companies to Watch
It can be challenging to stay on top of the rapidly evolving obesity market as companies both small and large innovate to meaningfully shift the weight-related public health landscape. It’s helpful to keep an eye on the larger ecosystem of investors and partners supporting their work. To better understand the field and identify some of the promising innovators, Clarivate analysts reviewed data on deal valuations, clinical trials, patents and market approvals in the space to identify 7 next-generation obesity Companies to Watch:
- Aphaia Pharma, which is located in Zug, Switzerland, develops oral formulations that simultaneously target multiple metabolic pathways rather than individual hormone receptors, aiming to restore a normal metabolic food response.
- Arecor Therapeutics, based in Chesterford Research Park, United Kingdom, is progressing two proprietary development portfolios in diabetes and obesity: an ultra-concentrated (500 U/mL) and ultra-rapid-acting “disruptor insulin” and an oral delivery platform initially focused on a GLP-1 RA.
- BioAge Labs, headquartered in Emeryville, California, is developing therapies for metabolic diseases by targeting the biology of human aging, including a brain-penetrant small-molecule NLRP3 inhibitor and apelin (APJ) agonists.
- D&D Pharmatech, based in Seongnam-si, South Korea, is advancing a diverse pipeline of therapeutics for metabolic, fibrotic and neurodegenerative diseases, including a dual agonist (GLP-1/glucagon) for metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH).
- iBio, headquartered in San Diego, California, leverages its AI-assisted platform and advanced computational biology to discover and develop therapies for obesity and cardiometabolic disease, including a potential first-in-class Activin E monoclonal antibody candidate.
- MitoRx Therapeutics, based in Oxford, United Kingdom, is developing potential first-in-class small molecule metabolic modulators targeted to the mitochondria, delivering durable fat-selective monotherapeutic weight loss without lean mass loss in obesity
- Resalis Therapeutics, which is located in Turin, Italy, is developing RNA-based therapies, including its lead program RES-010, that aim to tackle the root causes of complex metabolic disorders based on its deep expertise in non-coding RNA and lipid metabolism.
The next-generation obesity marketplace is expanding rapidly, including:
- Intensified deal activity and investment momentum, with mega-licensing, acquisitions and cross-border partnerships underscoring pharma and biotech commitment to differentiated obesity modalities.
- Diversifying clinical pipelines across four innovation pillars (oral delivery, ultra-long-acting dosing, muscle-preserving adjuncts and non-incretin mechanisms) aimed at improving adherence, tolerability and holistic metabolic outcomes.
- Evolving regulatory and trial design landscape as the industry pursues outcome measures that capture the full value and patient impact of next-generation therapies.
Discover more about emerging innovations and the 7 companies shaping the future of obesity management in our latest report, Next-Generation Obesity Companies to Watch.
Related insights
The latest news, technologies, and resources from our team.
