The Situation We Faced: The Development and Commercialization of MariTide

The situation Ray Deshaies, PhD, and Amgen faced was whether to move forward in development and commercialization a molecule called MariTide, also known as maridebart cafraglutide (formerly AMG 133). The experimental drug for the treatment of obesity and type 2 diabetes is currently in Phase III clinical trials.

Ray uses the push and pull factors of MariTide to focus on the general decision-making processes around moving compounds forward in a commercial big pharma setting.

MariTide is a bispecific antibody-peptide conjugate that acts on two hormone receptors simultaneously. As a GLP-1 receptor agonist, MariTide activates the glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor, which promotes insulin release and suppresses appetite.

Also, simultaneously, as a GIP receptor antagonist, it blocks the glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide (GIP) receptor, which may reduce fat storage.

This dual mechanism provides a different approach compared to existing GLP-1 drugs, like Wegovy and Zepbound, which are GLP-1 receptor agonists but may also be GIP receptor agonists.

Raymond J. Deshaies, PhD, is a Professor and Executive Officer of Molecular Biology at the California Institute of Technology; an investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute; Co-Founder of the pharmaceutical company Proteolix; and Co-Founder of the pharmaceutical company Cleave Biosciences.

Deshaies’ career has focused on determining how cells destroy unwanted proteins. He has received numerous awards and scholarships, including the Markey and Searle Scholar Awards and Burroughs-Wellcome and Beckman New Investigator Award. In 1999, he was selected as Young Investigator of the Year by the American Society for Cell Biology. He is an inventor on nine U.S. patents, many related to his work on the Ubiquitin-Proteasome System.