Hanmi Pharmaceutical gets attention with world’s 1st 'muscle-building' obesity drug

Hanmi Pharmaceutical is drawing market attention after reporting it has identified the scientific mechanism behind what it describes as “the world’s first muscle-building” obesity treatment. Korean drugmaker said Tuesday it has announced the nonclinical research results of three novel obesity drug candidates during European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) Annual Meeting 2025 held from Sept. 15 to 19 in Austria. Highlighting the announcement was the study result of HM17321, which Hanmi described as the world’s first-in-class obesity drug that enables “increasing muscle mass while selectively reducing fat at the same time.” During the announcement, Hanmi presented research data suggesting that HM17321 induces muscle growth by activating the mechanistic target of the rapamycin pathway and promoting metabolic adaptation to be dependent on glycolysis. The research team also found that it helps activate an immune cell in muscle called a regulatory T cell, triggering satellite cells to create new muscle. The company also said that it conducted long-term administration tWeiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Korea Times Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Korea Times