Onconic Therapeutics Unveils Drug Candidate for "Muscle Preservation" with Obesity Treatments

Study on preserving skeletal muscle during semaglutide-induced weight loss
Combination strategy, not an alternative to GLP-1... targets body composition improvements beyond weight loss
To be presented at ObesityWeek in November

Onconic Therapeutics has for the first time unveiled OCN-501, a novel drug candidate designed to preserve skeletal muscle during weight loss when used in combination with obesity treatments.

Onconic Therapeutics said on October 12 that its study of OCN-501 had been accepted for the public abstracts of ObesityWeek 2026, the annual scientific meeting of The Obesity Society, to be held in Washington, D.C., in November, and had also been selected for an oral presentation session. The study is titled “First-in-Class OCN-501 for Preserving Skeletal Muscle During Semaglutide-Induced Weight Loss.”

A view of the Onconic Therapeutics research center. Onconic Therapeutics

OCN-501 is being developed for use in combination with GLP-1 obesity treatments, including semaglutide, the active ingredient in Wegovy. One challenge associated with GLP-1 treatments is that weight loss can reduce not only fat but also lean body mass and muscle mass. Accordingly, combination treatment strategies that preserve muscle and improve body composition while maintaining weight-loss effects are drawing attention.

Eli Lilly, the developer of Mounjaro, has also identified combination treatments with GLP-1 and incretin therapies, as well as improvements in body composition, including the preservation or increase of lean body mass, as areas of interest for business development.

Building on its experience commercializing Zaqbo, a treatment for gastroesophageal reflux disease, and developing nesuparib, an anticancer drug candidate, Onconic Therapeutics plans to develop OCN-501 as a next-generation global drug pipeline asset.

An Onconic Therapeutics representative said, “We are developing it with the strategic goal of creating new therapeutic value through combination treatment with GLP-1 therapies, which have already established a massive market.”

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