Shares of Scholar Rock Holding (SRRK 16.60%) are soaring today, up 13.7% as of 1:14 p.m. ET. The move comes as the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite were up modestly.
Scholar Rock, a biopharma company, reported positive results from a phase 2 trial of its muscle-preserving weight-loss therapy.
Significant results
The study evaluated Scholar Rock's apitegromab in combination with Eli Lilly's blockbuster weight-loss drug tirzepatide (sold as Mounjaro and Zepbound). The combo showed a significant reduction in lean mass loss, a major issue with current GLP-1 treatments.
The company says that the trial showed that 30% of the weight lost by users of tirzepatide without apitegromab was lean mass, but that figure was cut in half with the addition of Scholar Rock's drug.
The company said the therapy was generally well tolerated, and that the results show it has "the potential to support healthier weight loss for millions of patients on GLP therapies by safely preserving lean mass."
Image source: Getty Images.
A massive market
GLP-1 drugs like Eli Lilly's Mounjaro and Novo Nordisk's Ozempic have been some of the most successful launches of drugs in history. The 2024 market was worth $53.5 billion and is expected to triple in size by 2030. Considering most people's desire to lose fat, not muscle, a drug like Scholar Rock's apitegromab could be massive.
With the development of any drug, nothing is guaranteed. While the results of this trial were encouraging, there is a way to go before full Food and Drug Administration approval and commercialization. I think this is a good pick, albeit one that carries some risk.
