Celltrion joins obesity drug race with oral, injectable pipeline

Injection clinical trial filing in H1 2026; oral drug to follow in H2 2028

A Celltrion sculpture in Songdo (Park Hyun-koo/The Korea Herald)

Celltrion aims to join the global race for obesity drugs with an oral pill and an injection for supporting weight loss, the Korean biopharmaceutical company said Tuesday.

The biopharmaceutical company has been developing a quadruple-agonist injection under the pipeline name of CT-G32, a new first-in-class drug based on glucagon-like peptide-1, or GLP-1, which is widely used in existing weight-loss drugs such as Wegovy and Mounjaro.

The Korean biosimilar maker said CT-G32 is designed to overcome shortcomings of current GLP-1 obesity drugs that use dual- or triple-agonist injections — such as muscle loss and variable responses per patient — while adding a new target to maximize the impact of appetite control and weight loss.

According to Celltrion, CT-G32 is currently undergoing a review of its animal effects among the major candidates. The company plans to submit an investigational new drug application, or IND, to regulatory authorities in the first half of 2027.

Celltrion is also developing a multitarget oral weight-loss drug aimed at accessibility and convenience with easier storage and distribution for sustainable treatment. For the oral obesity medicine, the company has set its eyes on developing a best-in-class new drug based on GLP-1.

To this end, Celltrion has researched advancing stability and bioavailability in terms of formulation and molecular design, with a timetable to submit an IND in the second half of 2028.

According to the World Health Organization, the global proportion of overweight adults recently surpassed 40 percent, a jump from about 25 percent in the 1990s. Market analyst GlobalData forecasts that the global obesity treatment market will hit $173.5 billion by 2031.

“Based on our strong dominance in treatment sectors such as autoimmune diseases and anticancer drugs, we have recently expanded our business areas to ophthalmic diseases and bone diseases and we plan to enter the obesity treatment market, which has limitless growth potential, with distinguished competitiveness,” said a Celltrion official.

“We will try our best to maximize our corporate value and become a global big pharma company by actively exploring new sectors.”