[Photo and Text by TIDE Reporter NA EUN-KYUNG ] The global obesity treatment market is evolving beyond glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1)-based therapies toward triple- and quadruple-action drugs.

Among domestic pharmaceutical companies, DaewonPharmaceutical(003220)is drawing attention in the stock market after presenting preclinical results for its next-generation quadruple-action obesity drug at the American Diabetes Association (ADA 2026) conference. Amid this, Glaseum—which transferred the technology for an obesity treatment candidate to DaewonPharmaceutical—is drawing interest by suggesting the possibility of a combination therapy strategy, stating that “appetite suppression and fat reduction are different areas.”

“GLP-1 reduces appetite; we reduce fat”

Yoo Sang-gu, CEO of Glasseum, recently met with “Pharm E-Daily,” E-Daily’s premium pharmaceutical and biotech content platform, at the company’s headquarters in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province. He emphasized, “While current obesity treatments focus on suppressing appetite, the essence of treating obesity lies in reducing body fat,” adding, “GLP-1 drugs handle appetite suppression, while we can play a role in reducing fat.”

In 2022, Glaseum signed a technology transfer agreement with DaewonPharmaceutical for the domestic development rights to butiglabridin as a treatment for obesity and metabolic disorders. Glaseum is focusing on the potential for combination therapy between butiglabridin and GLP-1-based obesity treatments—such as DaewonPharmaceutical’s new quadruple-action obesity drug—that suppress appetite.

CEO Yoo explained, “The current trend in obesity drug development is evolving toward multi-action agents, starting with GLP-1 and adding glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide (GIP) and glucagon (GCG) receptors, and more recently incorporating gastrin mechanisms as well,” adding, “This ultimately indicates that there are aspects of the condition that cannot be resolved through appetite control alone.”

Glaseum developed butiglabridin as an obesity treatment and conducted a Phase 2a clinical trial in South Korea. However, at the time, it failed to demonstrate weight loss efficacy. Glaseum, however, attributes this to behavioral factors among the clinical trial participants rather than a lack of drug efficacy.

“In animal studies, the fat-reducing effect was very pronounced,” he said. “But Saramins don’t eat simply because they’re hungry. Because the behavior of seeking out and eating delicious food—known as ‘hedonic eating’—is so strong, even if fat is broken down, the weight-loss effect can be diluted if additional food is consumed.”

He continued, “In some cases, obese patients actually eat more once their physical condition improves,” adding, “Through human clinical trials, we confirmed that appetite control must be addressed concurrently.”

This is also why Glaseum is placing emphasis on a combination therapy strategy with GLP-1 agonists, which have appetite-suppressing effects. However, DaewonPharmaceutical currently holds the rights to develop butiglabridin as an obesity treatment, so any future clinical trials or combination therapy strategies will require consultation with DaewonPharmaceutical.

“Weight Loss Goal with Minimized Muscle Loss via Autophagy Mechanism”

Glaseum’s candidate compound, butiglabridine, is based on

a mechanism

that activates autophagy, the process of intracellular self-digestion. In particular, butiglabridine is characterized by its ability to directly remove fat by promoting lipophagy, which breaks down lipid droplets inside fat cells.

Currently, the global obesity treatment market is dominated by GLP-1 agonists such as Wegovy and Zepbound. However, a limitation of GLP-1 agonists is that weight loss achieved through appetite suppression is often accompanied by a loss of muscle mass.

He explained, “Currently, a significant number of obese patients suffer from insulin resistance, which prevents the body’s fat-breaking-down function from working properly,” adding, “Butiglabridin works by directly breaking down fat within fat cells and inducing the body to use it as an energy source.”

The mechanism by which butiglabridin reduces fat also differs from that of Xenical (olistat), an existing obesity treatment from Roche. Xenical inhibits the fat-digesting enzyme (lipase) to prevent dietary fat from being absorbed into the body. In contrast, butiglabridin directly breaks down fat already accumulated within fat cells and induces its use as an energy source.

CEO Yoo explained, “While Xenical is a drug that blocks fat absorption and promotes its excretion, butiglabridin takes an approach that removes the fat already accumulated in the body.” He added, “Unlike Xenical, which has been criticized for gastrointestinal side effects during the fat excretion process, butiglabridin acts on the metabolic processes within fat cells.”

He also noted that the issue of muscle loss is particularly significant among middle-aged and elderly patients with obesity. “While younger people can recover some muscle mass after losing weight, it is not easy for older adults to regain muscle mass once it has been lost,” he explained.

He added, “The goal of obesity treatment is not simply to reduce weight, but to restore health by reducing unnecessary fat,” and noted, “In the future, treatment strategies that selectively reduce body fat while preserving as much muscle as possible will become increasingly important.”

‘Fat-Burning Obesity Drug’ Finds Success First in Obese Dogs

Although butiglabridin failed to achieve the expected weight loss effects in human clinical trials

,

it yielded meaningful results in companion animals. In an exploratory clinical trial conducted on obese dogs, an average weight loss of 6.8% was observed after 12 weeks of treatment. Notably, the weight loss was primarily composed of body fat, while muscle loss was minimized.

Based on these results, Glaseum plans to first validate the commercial viability of the product in the pet obesity treatment market. To this end, the company is preparing to submit an Investigational New Drug (IND) application for a Phase 3 clinical trial in Korea for the pet obesity treatment butiglabridin-R.

Butiglabridin was originally being developed as an obesity treatment, but its mechanism of action—the activation of autophagy—was identified, leading to an expansion of its indications to include Parkinson’s disease. Currently, Glaseum is preparing for a confirmatory clinical trial for the pet obesity treatment while also advancing a Phase 2b clinical trial for Parkinson’s disease.

CEO Yoo stated, “The greatest strength of butiglabridin is that it can simultaneously address two areas—obesity and degenerative brain diseases—through a single mechanism,” adding, “In the field of obesity, we aim to improve healthy body composition, and in the field of Parkinson’s disease, we want to propose a new treatment strategy to slow the progression of the disease.”