Aardvark pauses two obesity drug trials as it reviews side effects

Merck & Co., Inc.
Eli Lilly and Company
Aardvark Therapeutics, Inc.

Merck & Co., Inc.

MRK

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Eli Lilly and Company

LLY

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Aardvark Therapeutics, Inc.

AARD

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March 23 (Reuters) - Aardvark Therapeutics AARD.O said on Monday it has voluntarily paused two mid-stage studies testing its experimental combination treatment for obesity as it reviews side effects associated with one of the drugs.

  • The combination treatment, ARD-201, was being tested to induce weight loss and prevent weight regain among patients who have lost about 15% of body weight on the popular GLP-1 class of drugs, which includes Eli Lilly's LLY.N Zepbound and Novo Nordisk's NOVOb.CO Wegovy.

  • ARD-201 is a combination of Aardvark's experimental drug, ARD-101, and Merck's diabetes drug MRK.N Januvia, chemically known as sitagliptin.

  • ARD-101 is designed to trigger the release of multiple gut-peptide hormones, including GLP-1, to regulate hunger.

  • Last month, the company identified heart-related side effects during safety monitoring of ARD-101 in a healthy-volunteer study. It then paused a late-stage trial testing ARD-101 in patients with a rare genetic disorder called Prader-Willi syndrome.

  • Aardvark said it expects to provide further updates on the drugs in the second quarter of 2026.


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