What happened
Shares of Structure Therapeutics (GPCR -0.10%) were up by more than 32% as of 12:15 p.m. ET Friday after the pharmaceutical company announced positive clinical trial results for a weight-loss therapy candidate.
So what
Structure Therapeutics is a clinical-stage company that focuses on oral therapies to treat chronic metabolic and cardiopulmonary conditions with significant unmet medical needs. The company said in a press release on Friday that its once-daily pill GSBR-1290 helped study participants reduce their body weights by an average of as much as 4.9 kilograms (10.8 pounds) over 28 days of treatment in a phase 1b study. The pill is a GLP-1 receptor agonist, the same class of drugs as Mounjaro from Eli Lilly and Wegovy from Novo Nordisk. However, those two therapies are injectables, while GSBR-1290 is a more easily taken pill. GLP-1 receptor agonists help the body regulate blood sugar and decrease appetite because they slow down the rate at which the stomach empties itself of food.
Now what
The company, which just went public in February, said it plans two phase 2b studies of the drug next year -- one as a diabetes treatment with roughly 500 subjects, and the other as an obesity treatment with 275 subjects.
The company also announced that it had entered into a share purchase agreement worth $300 million with institutional investors. That should help the company continue the clinical trial process for GSBR-1290. As of the end of the second quarter, Structure Therapeutics had $224.6 million in cash on hand -- enough, it said, to fund operations through 2025. This fundraising move expands that window a bit. Its pipeline includes three other programs besides GSBR-1290.
