Ascletis Advances Oral Obesity Pill Combining GLP-1R and GIPR Agonists

The company’s new candidate, ASC30_48 FDC, pairs its proprietary GLP-1R agonist ASC30 with the newly selected GIPR agonist ASC48. Developed through Ascletis’ internal AI-assisted discovery platform, ASC48 showed high selectivity and potency in preclinical testing, recording an EC50 of 1 pM—outperforming the 3 pM benchmark set by tirzepatide.

In head-to-head non-human primate studies, the combined therapy demonstrated a 52% greater reduction in body weight compared to ASC30 monotherapy alone. These results, coupled with the drug's favorable oral bioavailability and half-life, have prompted the firm to prepare for a U.S. Investigational New Drug application. Ascletis expects to submit this filing to the Food and Drug Administration in the final quarter of 2026, aiming to offer an oral alternative to the current standard of weekly peptide injections.