Kailera Therapeutics is a U.S. obesity-drug company built on medicines licensed from China's Jiangsu Hengrui Pharmaceuticals for use outside Greater China. Its lead injectable is ribupatide, a weekly GLP-1/GIP dual agonist, and its pipeline also includes Hengrui's oral GLP-1 drug HRS-7535 and the triple agonist HRS-4729.
On September 30, 2026, Kailera said it had finished enrolling about 4,900 adults in KaiNETIC, a three-trial Phase 3 program for ribupatide. Each trial runs 76 weeks with titration up to 10 mg, and KaiNETIC-3 compares ribupatide directly with semaglutide 2.4 mg in about 1,200 people with a BMI of 35 or higher. Topline results are expected in mid-2028.
At EASD 2026, Kailera reported that ribupatide exposure was similar whether injected in the abdomen, upper arm, or thigh, and early Phase 1 data showing 16.0% mean weight loss at week 12 with 12 mg of HRS-4729 in 10 participants.
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Kailera Therapeutics said on Wednesday, September 30, 2026 that it has finished enrolling about 4,900 adults in the three-trial KaiNETIC Phase 3 program for ribupatide, a weekly GLP-1/GIP dual agonist licensed from Hengrui, including KaiNETIC-3, which compares ribupatide with semaglutide 2.4 mg in about 1,200 people with a BMI of 35 or higher. Each trial runs 76 weeks with titration up to 10 mg, and topline results are expected in mid-2028. At EASD on October 1, Kailera reported a 51-person Phase 1 study in which ribupatide exposure after injection in the upper arm or thigh was similar to abdominal injection, and early Phase 1 data for the triple agonist HRS-4729 showing 16.0% mean weight loss at week 12 on 12 mg in 10 participants.
On July 7, Kailera Therapeutics reported positive topline results from two Hengrui Pharma Phase 3 trials in China of HRS-7535/KAI-7535, a once-daily oral small-molecule GLP-1 receptor agonist licensed to Kailera outside Greater China. In HARBOR-1, 556 adults with obesity or overweight lost a mean 9.5% of body weight at 120 mg and 10.9% at 180 mg by week 44. OUTSTAND-2, in 810 adults with type 2 diabetes, showed HbA1c reductions of 1.50% to 1.68% and non-inferiority versus dapagliflozin. Hengrui plans China NDA filings; Kailera is running a parallel global Phase 2.
Obesity biotech Kailera Therapeutics priced an upsized IPO of 39.06 million shares at $16, raising $625 million — the largest venture-backed biopharmaceutical IPO since Acelyrin in 2023. Lead candidate ribupatide (a GLP-1/GIP peptide dual agonist) drove 18% body weight loss at 48 weeks in a late-stage Chinese study; global Phase 3 readout expected in 2028.