VERU - Veru Announces Mitchell Steiner as Keynote Speaker at Biomed Israel 2024: The 22nd National Life Science & Technology Week | Benzinga
MIAMI, FL, May 14, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Veru Inc. (NASDAQ:VERU), a late clinical stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing innovative medicines for preserving muscle for high quality weight loss, oncology, and viral induced acute respiratory distress syndrome, today announced that Mitchell Steiner, M.D., Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer, will be a Keynote Speaker at Biomed Israel 2024: The 22nd National Life Science & Technology Week, taking place May 21-23, 2024, in Tel Aviv, Israel.
The keynote presentation will highlight the concerns that (i) muscle loss caused by GLP-1 receptor agonists may be partly responsible for weight loss plateau, (ii) upon stopping GLP-1 RA, the fat and weight rebound regain, and (iii) such muscle loss may accelerate the development of frailty in at-risk older sarcopenic obese patients who are at risk for physical function limitations. The presentation will take place on Wednesday, May 22, 2024, from 2:30 PM – 4:30 PM Israel Daylight Time.
Keynote Title: Make GLP-1 weight loss drugs more effective and precise -- get greater fat loss by preserving muscle mass and function?
Moderators: Dr. Boaz Hirshberg, MD, Senior Vice President, Clinical Sciences General Medicine, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals and Iris Grossman, PhD, CThO, Eleven Therapeutics
Presentation Date: Wednesday, May 22, 2024
Presentation Time: 2:30 PM – 4:30 PM Israel Daylight Time
Presentation Location: Hall B
Additional information on the meeting can be found on the Biomed Israel 2024 website: https://kenes-exhibitions.com/biomed/
About the Enobosarm Phase 2b clinical trial
The Phase 2b, multicenter, double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized, dose-finding clinical trial is designed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of enobosarm 3mg, enobosarm 6mg, or placebo as a treatment to preserve muscle and augment fat loss in approximately 90 patients with sarcopenic obesity or overweight elderly (>60 years of age) patients receiving semaglutide (Wegovy®). The primary endpoint is difference in total lean body mass, and the key secondary endpoints are differences in total body fat mass and physical function as measured by stair climb test at 16 weeks. The Phase 2b clinical trial is actively enrolling patients from up to 15 clinical sites in the United States. Topline clinical results from the trial are expected by the end of calendar year 2024.
After completing the efficacy dose-finding portion of the Phase 2b clinical trial, it is expected that participants will then continue in blinded fashion into a Phase 2b extension clinical trial where all patients will stop receiving a GLP-1 RA, but will continue taking placebo, enobosarm 3mg, or enobosarm 6mg for an additional 12 weeks. The Phase 2b extension clinical trial will evaluate whether enobosarm can maintain muscle and prevent the fat and weight gain that occurs after discontinuing a GLP-1 RA. The topline results of the separate blinded Phase 2b extension clinical study are expected in calendar Q2 2025.
About Sarcopenic Obesity
According to the CDC, 41.5% of older adults have obesity in the United States and could benefit from a weight loss medication. Up to 34.4% of these obese patients over the age of 60 have sarcopenic obesity. This large subpopulation of sarcopenic obese patients is especially at risk for taking GLP-1 drugs for weight loss as they already have critically low amount of muscle due to age-related muscle loss. Further loss of muscle mass when taking a GLP-1 RA medication may lead to muscle weakness leading to poor balance, decreased gait speed, mobility disability, loss of independence, falls, bone fractures and increased mortality which is ...