Replies to post #251232 on Biotech Values

[DewDiligence]

More_on_the_same_topic—quality of weight loss:

https://www.fiercebiotech.com/biotech/regeneron-lilly-grapple-clinical-endpoints-obesity-space-moves-improving-weight-loss

[DewDiligence]

ALUR +145% on muscle-mass PR:

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/allurion-announces-publication-data-demonstrating-120000975.html

Allurion Technologies, Inc., a company dedicated to ending obesity, today announced the publication of a study demonstrating an average lean mass gain of 5.6% in patients with an average weight loss of 14% at four months on the Allurion Program.

…In the study, 571 patients across three obesity centers treated with the Allurion Program reduced their weight on average by 13.9kg from 97.9kg to 84.0kg in just four months. Over that same period, lean mass—which includes muscle mass—increased by 2.8kg on average from 49.8kg to 52.6kg.

…All patients experienced significant reductions in body fat percentage, decreasing from 32.7% to 27.9% in just 4 months.

Caveat emptor! The centerpiece of the Allurion Program is an ingested gastric balloon to reduce appetite that is (purportedly) excreted naturally after four months.

This is the paper referenced in the above PR:
https://www.mdpi.com/2039-7283/14/3/61

ALUR went public in Aug 2023 via a SPAC merger (https://investors.allurion.com/news/news-details/2023/Allurion-Debuts-as-a-Publicly-Traded-Company-on-the-NYSE/default.aspx ).

[DewDiligence]

ALT—(+12%)—reports “lean-loss ratio” from subset of (previously reported) phase-2 Pemvidutide dataset:

https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2024/09/10/2943994/0/en/CORRECTION-Altimmune-Presents-Results-of-a-Phase-2-MRI-Based-Body-Composition-Sub-Study-at-60th-Annual-Meeting-of-the-European-Association-for-the-Study-of-Diabetes.html

In an MRI sub-study of 67 subjects from the Phase 2 MOMENTUM obesity trial, 50 of whom were treated with pemvidutide for 48 weeks, the lean loss ratio, defined as the change in lean mass compared to the change in total mass, was 21.9%. Lean mass preservation…subjects aged 60 years and older…was only 19.9%.

A lean-loss ratio of ratio of 30-40% is thought to be a typical range for patients who lose a lot of weight quickly, so the numbers cited above would seem to be quite impressive.