G2Gbio (456160.KQ) has signed a platform evaluation agreement with China's United Biotechnology (UBT) to test a long-acting injectable formulation of a metabolic disease candidate. The company plans to complete the evaluation within a few months, drawing on its experience conducting assessments for several global pharmaceutical companies. Market watchers expect the candidate to be a dual or triple agonist.
G2Gbio said on the 19th that it had signed a material transfer agreement and a platform evaluation agreement under which it will apply its InnoLAMP platform to a specific candidate supplied by UBT and assess the feasibility of developing it as a long-acting injectable.
UBT is a Chinese biotech that licensed UBT251, a diabetes and obesity treatment candidate, to Novo Nordisk, the developer of Wegovy, in March last year. That deal was valued at a total of $2 billion, including a $200 million upfront payment and up to $1.8 billion in development and commercialization milestones. UBT's parent company, The United Laboratories, produces active pharmaceutical ingredients and finished drugs at 11 manufacturing sites and supplies products to more than 80 countries.
G2Gbio develops long-acting injectables using technology that loads high concentrations of a drug into microspheres while suppressing the initial release of the drug. The ability to control encapsulation rates and initial release volumes within microspheres according to a drug's characteristics is a key factor in determining how long a treatment remains effective and how safe it is.
Market watchers expect the candidate to be a dual or triple agonist. In June, the company presented a poster at the 2026 American Diabetes Association Scientific Sessions on a one-month formulation of retatrutide, Eli Lilly's triple agonist. The study showed that the company had secured safety by encapsulating a high concentration of the compound in microspheres while suppressing initial release, demonstrating the potential to develop subcutaneous formulations of high-dose compounds.
An official at G2Gbio said the company has built up experience developing high-concentration microspheres for most diabetes and obesity peptides, including single, dual and triple glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) agonists and amylin. The official added that collaboration and evaluation requests from companies including Samsung Bioepis, Celltrion and UBT have surged this year, and that partnerships are expected to expand further.
The company expects the platform evaluation to produce results within a few months, a faster timeline than the one year to 18 months typically required in the long-acting injectable field.
Morgan Stanley has projected that the market for GLP-1-based diabetes and obesity treatments will grow to about $190 billion by 2035 and will expand into dual and triple agonists and combination therapies. "The InnoLAMP platform is a technology recognized in the global market that is capable of commercial-scale production," G2Gbio Chief Executive Lee Hee-yong said. "In signing agreements, we also take into account the competitiveness and pipelines of our global partners."