Aardvark pauses two obesity drug trials as it reviews side effects
23/03/2026 21:52
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. (Reporting by Mariam Sunny in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar) ((Mariam.ESunny@thomsonreuters.com))