Hanmi Science joins race to develop Wegovy competitor

Hanmi Science Co., the holding company of South Korea’s pharmaceutical giant Hanmi Pharmaceutical Co., has joined the global race to develop the next blockbuster weight-loss drug amid the worldwide Wegovy and Ozempic craze.

Hanmi Science has officially kicked off a new project dubbed the Hanmi Obesity Pipeline, or HOP, to develop novel weight-loss treatments, the company announced on Wednesday.

The company will develop anti-obesity treatments as its new growth driver under the direction of Lim Ju-hyun, the eldest daughter of late Hanmi Pharmaceutical Chairman and founder Lim Sung-ki. She is currently president of Strategy & Planning at the company.

Hanmi Science has six anti-obesity drug candidates in the pipeline, of which Efpeglenatide, a new weight-loss drug developed for Koreans based on a glucagon-like peptide-1, or a GLP-1, as an active ingredient, is expected to hit the market first.

The company is set to start phase 3 clinical trials in Korea in October with an aim to launch the drug in 2026.

Another promising weight-loss treatment is HM15275, or LA-GLP·GIP·GCG, a novel next-generation anti-obesity drug. It uses GLP-1 and another hormone called GIP known to stimulate insulin release and reduce appetite.

But rather than the Long Acting Protein/Peptide Discovery (LAPSCOVERY) platform used for Efpeglenatide, it has been developed with the company’s next-generation platform technology.

In early stage laboratory tests with animals, HM15275 showed efficacy to shed animal body weight by 25%, exceeding the 22.5% weight loss achieved by Eli Lilly & Co.’s Mounjaro, one of the most famous anti-obesity treatments in the world alongside Wegovy and Ozempic, both from Danish multinational pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk A/S.

BOOMING GLP-1 ANTI-OBESITY DRUG MARKET

The foreign rivals all use GLP-1 as an active ingredient, currently the big thing in drug and investment circles.

GLP-1 is a hormone that is released after eating and sends signals to the brain to suppress appetite by increasing the feeling of being sated.

The new class of anti-obesity drugs -- Wegovy, Ozempic and Mounjaro -- are known to be effective in significant weight loss with far lower risks than earlier drugs, and they have become very popular across the world after celebrities, including Tesla tycoon Elon Musk, said they lost weight by using them. 

They were, however, originally developed as diabetic drugs but later found to aid in weight loss. Of them, Mounjaro is known to be the most effective.

The Eli Lilly medicine, which is expected to be the first of the three to be approved to treat obesity, replicates the effects of GLP-1 and GIP like Hanmi’s HM15275.

FROM OBESITY PREVENTION TO MANAGEMENT

Hanmi Science plans to develop not only weight-loss drugs but also novel obesity prevention and management treatments that can cover the entire weight management cycle.  

It is now developing a new biomedicine that can prevent muscle loss to improve body composition and prevent the regaining of lost weight, as well as a treatment for eating disorders.  

The company plans to introduce a digital anti-obesity treatment that can improve the efficacy of weight-loss medicines and reduce side effects with a medicine administration management system.

Like its global peers, the Korean pharmaceutical major is seeking to perfect a new platform technology that can enable the oral delivery of peptide drugs.

The global race to find a real game-changer to combat obesity is intensifying as the overweight population is growing worldwide.

The global market for weight-loss treatments is forecast to grow to $39 billion in 2030 from $11.6 billion in 2022, according to Vantage Marget Research.

Write to Ji-Hyun Lee at bluesky@hankyung.com

Sookyung Seo edited this article.