Zhejiang Doer Biologics (Doer Bio) has dosed the first subject in the Phase Ib study of DR10624 to treat obesity and hypertriglyceridemia in New Zealand.

The double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomised, multiple-ascending dose (MAD) study intends to assess the efficacy and safety of DR10624 treatment in different dose levels.

It will also evaluate the tolerability, pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics of the therapy in adult obese subjects with moderate hypertriglyceridemia. 

The subject will be injected with DR10624 subcutaneously or will receive a placebo for 12 weeks.

Doer Bio founder and CEO Yanshan Huang said: “DR10624 is a novel FIC tri-specific biotherapeutic specifically agonising GLP-1R, glucagon receptor GCGR, and FGF21R.

“Utilising Doer Bio's proprietary MultipleBody platform technology, DR10624 is designed and engineered to exhibit balanced activity for metabolic diseases.

“In various preclinical studies, DR10624 consistently demonstrated weight reduction, glucose lowering, metabolic improvement, and liver function improvement.”

In addition, the company received approval from China's National Medical Products Administration’s (NMPA) Center for Drug Evaluation (CDE) for its IND application for DR10624 in treating obesity.

Doer Bio chief operating officer Yongliang Fang said: “We are encouraged by the progress of the ongoing Phase I single ascending dose study of DR10624 in New Zealand.

“The dosing of the first subject in the 12-week MAD study and the IND approval from NMPA mark an important milestone in our clinical translation of DR10624.

“There is a growing unmet medical need for patients suffering from metabolic dysfunction. We look forward to developing DR10624 as a potential treatment for those patients in need.”

The company is also engaged in developing multi-domain-based multi-specific biotherapeutics for treating cancers.

Apart from MultiBody, the company’s platform technologies include AccuBody, SMART-VHHBody, and xLONGylation.