GLP-1-targeting drugs like Wegovy and Zepbound have helped patients with obesity lose about a fifth of their body weight. But roughly 40% of that weight could be lean mass, which is a concern for some experts — and a potential opportunity for other drugmakers.
As STAT’s Allison DeAngelis and Elaine Chen report, the idea of shedding fat while preserving muscle has set in motion a scientific race among a handful of companies. For a few firms, including Biohaven and the Eli Lilly-owned Versanis, the key is a bodily protein called myostatin, which regulates muscle growth.
For years, researchers have known that inhibiting myostatin inhibition leads to striking atrophy, producing the memorably jacked mice and dogs of scientific lore. The effects were markedly less dramatic in humans, which largely ruled out myostatin drugs as treatments for muscular disorders. But the pathway is getting another look as companies search for compounds that might spare muscle tissue from the effects of powerful weight-loss treatment.
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