On Tuesday, Vivani Medical Inc VANI announced the publication of positive proof-of-concept weight loss data with OKV-119 to treat feline obesity and diabetes in the peer-reviewed BMC Veterinary Research.
OKV-119 is a miniature, subdermal, exenatide drug implant.
This device can be inserted under the skin during routine veterinary visits and is being designed to provide steady doses of medication for up to six months.
The company has licensed the rights of its exenatide delivery system, supported by the proprietary NanoPortal platform, to development partner Okava Pharmaceuticals, which is studying OKV-119 for prediabetes, diabetes, and obesity in companion felines.
What Happened: The study evaluated the drug release characteristics of subcutaneous OKV-119 implants configured to release exenatide for 84 days. Key findings include:
- A single OKV-119 implant effectively delivered exenatide for the 3-month duration for which this configuration was designed to last.
- Exposure to exenatide plasma concentrations ranging from 1.5 ng/ml to 4 ng/ml induced weight loss in cats.
Why It Matters: Obesity in cats, like humans, is associated with decreased life expectancy and various health complications.
Researchers estimate that up to 40% of the domestic cat population needs help managing their weight, and feline obesity is now one of the most common challenges encountered at veterinary offices.
“The data published in BMC Veterinary Research is further evidence that our proprietary NanoPortal implant technology holds promise in reducing obesity in cats,” said Adam Mendelsohn, Vivani President and CEO.
“Felines share many pathophysiologic obesity phenotypes with humans, and our pre-clinical studies of NPM-115 and NPM-119 in other animal models, in addition to this cat data, support our efforts to clinically evaluate our miniature, subdermal GLP-1 implants for the treatment of chronic weight management in obese or overweight human patients and type 2 diabetes, respectively,” Mendelsohn added.
Vivani has separately demonstrated the delivery of exenatide over a 6-month duration both in vitro and in vivo (in a rat) and anticipates extending the duration of OKV-119 to 6 months for future studies.
Price Action: VANI shares closed at $1.67 on Friday.
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