Peptide News Digest

Retatrutide Knee Pain Trials in NEJM, Semaglutide Lowers Heart Pressures in HFpEF, San Francisco Peptide Party

Retatrutide eases knee osteoarthritis pain in two NEJM trials, semaglutide lowers heart pressures in HFpEF, and a San Francisco party hands out peptides.

8 stories · Covering clinical-trials, research, regulatory, industry

Editor's Note

Two journals published GLP-1 trials on November 8 that measured something other than weight. In NEJM, about two-thirds of people on retatrutide in two Phase 3 trials reported their knee pain at least halved, though 38% on placebo did too, a reminder of how much pain scores move without an active drug. In Nature Medicine, Mayo Clinic's CAMEO-SEMA trial measured heart filling pressures by catheter and found semaglutide lowered them during exercise by 10.6 mmHg more than placebo, pointing to one mechanism behind the symptom gains seen in earlier heart failure trials. Outside trials, Taiwan's regulator is counting side-effect reports, and Allergan is pitching fillers and Botox to GLP-1 users on the strength of studies without control groups. In San Francisco, a startup accelerator handed out sublingual peptide strips at a party, a product for which, as the SF Standard notes, there is little evidence of absorption.

Clinical Trials

Retatrutide Eased Knee Osteoarthritis Pain in Two Phase 3 Trials Published in NEJM and Presented at ACR

In TRIUMPH-4 and TRIUMPH-1-OA, two Northwestern-led Phase 3 trials that together enrolled more than 1,000 adults with obesity and painful knee osteoarthritis, about two-thirds of people on Lilly's retatrutide had at least a 50% reduction in knee pain, compared with 38% on placebo, and those on the highest dose lost about a quarter of their body weight, Northwestern said. Both trials were published in NEJM on November 8, when TRIUMPH-4 was presented at the American College of Rheumatology meeting in Orlando; people who needed a knee replacement were excluded, and Lilly scientists are co-authors.

#retatrutide #eli-lilly #osteoarthritis
Clinical Trials

Mayo Clinic Trial: Semaglutide Cut Exercise Heart Filling Pressure by 10.6 mmHg vs. Placebo in Obesity-Related HFpEF

In CAMEO-SEMA (NCT05371496), 81 patients with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction and obesity were randomized to semaglutide 2.4 mg weekly or placebo for 52 weeks. Pulmonary artery wedge pressure during low-intensity exercise, measured by catheter, fell 9.8 mmHg on semaglutide and rose 0.9 mmHg on placebo (difference −10.6 mmHg, 95% CI −13.3 to −8.0), and 53.7% vs. 7.4% met the authors' definition of hemodynamic remission. A cardiac MRI substudy of 49 participants, published alongside it in Nature Medicine on November 8, found improved left atrial strain and left ventricular filling on semaglutide.

#semaglutide #hfpef #nature-medicine
Research

Orforglipron Lowered Systolic Blood Pressure 6.1 mmHg vs. 0.8 on Placebo Over 72 Weeks in ATTAIN-1, Post Hoc Analysis Finds

In post hoc analyses of Lilly's Phase 3 ATTAIN-1 (3,127 adults with obesity) and ATTAIN-2 (1,613 adults with obesity and type 2 diabetes) trials, presented at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions in Chicago, pooled orforglipron doses lowered office systolic pressure by 6.1 vs. 0.8 mmHg and 4.9 vs. 1.5 mmHg on placebo at 72 weeks. People starting with stage 2 hypertension had the largest drops (15.9 vs. 11.1 and 15.8 vs. 8.2 mmHg), and diastolic pressure fell more than on placebo in ATTAIN-1 but not in ATTAIN-2. Pharmacy Times reported that weight loss explained about 58% and 81% of the systolic change in the two trials.

#orforglipron #foundayo #blood-pressure
Regulatory

Taiwan's FDA Has Received 63 Suspected Adverse Reaction Reports on GLP-1 Injections This Year

Taiwan's Food and Drug Administration has received 63 suspected adverse reaction reports involving GLP-1 injections this year, 39 for weight-loss products and 24 for diabetes treatments, most often for gastrointestinal problems, low blood sugar, and nausea, with individual reports of intestinal obstruction and pancreatitis, Taiwan News reported on November 8, citing CNA. Ou Hong-yi, chair of the Taiwanese Association of Diabetes Educators, said the association is working with experts in Japan and South Korea on guidance for GLP-1 use around surgery, because slowed stomach emptying can leave food in the stomach even after fasting.

#glp-1 #side-effects #taiwan
Industry

SF Standard: Startup Accelerator's Peptide Party on a WWII Liberty Ship Handed Out CJC-1295 and Ipamorelin Strips

The San Francisco Standard reported on a black-tie, alcohol-free party hosted by the startup accelerator Haus Fund aboard the SS Jeremiah O'Brien at Pier 35, where guests signed waivers and sampled U.S.-made sublingual strips containing CJC-1295 and ipamorelin, a GHK-Cu cream, and products from Afterglow Science, whose strips include tirzepatide and a BPC-157, TB-500, and GHK-Cu blend. Guests received stickers reading "Buy American peptides"; Dr. Jordan Shlain, cofounder of a longevity medicine conference, said good manufacturing is no substitute for evidence, and the article notes little research supports claims that sublingual peptides absorb as well as injections.

#cjc-1295 #ipamorelin #bpc-157 #gray-market
Industry

Allergan Studies of GLP-1 Users Report Higher Facial Satisfaction After Fillers and Botox, Without Control Groups

Allergan Aesthetics, an AbbVie company, said on November 8 that it presented two single-arm Phase 4 studies at the American Society for Dermatologic Surgery meeting in San Diego. In 30 adults on stable GLP-1 doses who received hyaluronic acid fillers, Botox Cosmetic, and a skincare regimen, mean FACE-Q facial satisfaction scores rose 42.4 points, and in an interim analysis of 25 of 75 planned HALO participants given fillers, they rose 39.6 points by month 3. Neither study had a control group, and Allergan sells the products tested.

#abbvie #aesthetics #glp-1
Research

Beijing Team's Cell-Penetrating Peptide Coating Raised Tumor Suppression to 81% for Light-Activated Curcumin Nanoparticles in Mice

Researchers at Beijing University of Chinese Medicine and the China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences coated curcumin-loaded ZIF-90 nanoparticles with a PEG-linked cell-penetrating peptide, CPP2, which increased uptake in colorectal cancer cells and accumulation in tumors. In mice, tumor suppression was 25.5% with curcumin alone, 48.5% with uncoated particles plus laser light, and 80.6% with peptide-coated particles plus light, the Drug Delivery paper reports. The work is preclinical.

#drug-delivery #cancer #photodynamic-therapy
Research

Henan Team Finds a 24-Amino-Acid Fragment of the Pig Antimicrobial Peptide PMAP-36 Blocks PRRS Virus Entry in Cells

Researchers at Henan Institute of Science and Technology screened porcine cathelicidin peptides against porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus, which vaccines control poorly, and found that GI24, the first 24 amino acids of PMAP-36, blocked the virus from attaching to and entering cells. GI24 also reduced inflammatory signaling triggered by the virus and by bacterial endotoxin, working through the TREM1 gene, the Virology paper reports. The tests were done in cells only.

#antimicrobial-peptides #antiviral-peptides #veterinary

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