Orexigen Therapeutics, Inc.

Though its campaign is an unbranded one, with no outright mention of Currax Pharmaceuticals' weight loss drug Contrave in the ads or on the "Stop the Food Noise" website, the site features multiple links to “get help to control food cravings” and “learn more,” all of which lead straight to Contrave’s own site. Many people who struggle with weight management may experience an uncontrollable, near-obsessive preoccupation with food. The concept has long existed but only recently earned the name “food noise,” the quieting of which has been reported as a benefit of GLP-1 agonists and other obesity medications.Currax Pharmaceuticals, the maker of one such medication, is working to raise awareness of the concept of food noise as a psychological barrier to weight loss. A new campaign from the company offers educational resources about food noise while also nudging viewers toward Currax’s Contrave, a combination of naltrexone and bupropion that specifically claims to curb cravings and hunger.Currax unveiled the “Quiet the Food Noise” campaign this week, citing in its announcement a recent survey from Weight Watchers and the STOP Obesity Alliance showing that nearly 60% of people who are overweight or obese said they experience food noise, but only 12% of those surveyed were familiar with the term.The campaign’s website describes and defines food noise, detailing its various symptoms and information about its triggers, effects and management. It also features a pair of 15-second video ads that Currax said will run on YouTube and connected TV channels.Each ad shows an individual being pestered by an anthropomorphic food item: a woman getting annoyed by a too-chatty ice cream container, and a man attempting to ignore the call of a bag of potato chips. In both clips, the food item gets the last word—“You know how this ends”—before a voice-over directs viewers to the campaign site as a resource to “help control your cravings and support weight loss goals.”Elsewhere, Currax said it has developed 30-second spots that will go out via radio broadcast and podcasts.Though the campaign is an unbranded one, with no outright mention of Contrave in the ads or on the main website, the site features multiple links to “get help to control food cravings” and “learn more,” all of which lead straight to Contrave’s own site.Currax has marketed Contrave since 2019. Before it was bought by the specialty pharma, Contrave was originally owned by Orexigen Therapeutics, under which it earned FDA approval in 2014, in a marketing partnership with Takeda. By 2016, with Contrave struggling to get off the ground, Takeda pulled out of the team-up, and Orexigen filed for bankruptcy two years later, ultimately agreeing to be purchased by Nalpropion Pharmaceuticals, which in turn was acquired by Currax in 2019. In another component of the Quiet the Food Noise campaign, Currax has partnered with My Weight – What to Know, an organization dedicated to providing educational resources about the many options available beyond simply diet and exercise to aid in weight management. The partners plan to send out a questionnaire to members of the organization’s community to learn more about how they experience food noise.“We’ve heard from so many people living with obesity that dealing with constant ‘food noise’ is a significant challenge for them in everyday life,” Ansley Dalbo, the organization’s founder, said in this week’s announcement. “These persistent thoughts about food can impact mental health and can also make weight management more difficult. Recognizing this is a critical first step in combatting weight bias (both internal and external) and de-stigmatizing the choice to seek medical help for obesity.”

LA JOLLA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Arialys Therapeutics, a biotechnology company pioneering new precision medicines for autoimmune neuropsychiatry, today announced the appointment of Peter Flynn, Ph.D., as President and Chief Executive Officer. Dr. Flynn has more than 20 years of executive leadership experience in the biotech industry, from private start-ups to established publicly traded companies, scaling companies through key financings and pharma partnerships, advancing novel therapeutics from scientific breakthrough to the clinic, and commercializing FDA-approved medicines. In conjunction, Jay Lichter, Ph.D., Managing Partner of Avalon BioVentures and former President and CEO of Arialys, has been appointed Chair of the company’s Board of Directors. Dr. Lichter said, “Peter’s success in thoughtfully building and funding companies and experience advancing novel therapeutics in the clinic will be invaluable as Arialys brings its lead drug candidate, ART5803, into clinical study for the treatment of ANRE and autoimmune psychosis. As Chair, I look forward to working with Peter and the rest of the team to develop novel precision medicines and diagnostics to help millions of people who suffer from neuropsychiatric disorders driven by autoimmune disease.” “Arialys is on the forefront of transforming the treatment landscape for neuropsychiatry by applying a precision medicine approach to breakthrough insights in autoimmune driven neuropsychiatric diseases,” said Dr. Flynn. “Arialys has already generated significant preclinical proof-of-concept data for ART5803, and I look forward to working with the dedicated team and distinguished Clinical Advisory Board to advance this potentially transformative medicine into the clinic next year. I also am excited to build upon the team’s insights, discovering and characterizing pathogenic autoantibodies, to explore additional therapeutic opportunities for the treatment of CNS diseases driven by autoimmunity.” Prior to joining Arialys, Dr. Flynn was Cofounder and Chief Operating Officer of Artiva Biotherapeutics, where he oversaw business development and strategy, research, manufacturing, and corporate operations. During his time at Artiva, the company achieved significant financing, clearance of several IND applications, the establishment of a built-to-fit office, research labs, and internal GMP manufacturing capability, and corporate partnerships with Merck and Affimed. Prior to Artiva, Dr. Flynn was the Global Head of Development and a senior executive at Orexigen, where he oversaw the post-marketing development and regulatory aspects of Contrave®, an FDA-approved weight-loss prescription medication. Coordinating staff across the U.S., E.U., and MENA regions, he collaborated with the commercial team to ensure effective medical and regulatory support for global partnerships and direct-to-consumer and telemedicine campaigns for Contrave. Prior to Orexigen, Dr. Flynn was Senior Vice President, Early Program Development at Fate Therapeutics, where he was responsible for the development of the iPSC platform and was a member of the senior executive team for Fate’s IPO in 2013. Prior to Fate, he was Vice President of Research at Ren Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Flynn started his industry career at the antibody therapeutics company KaloBios, where as head of biochemistry he helped build both the platform technology and therapeutic pipeline. Dr. Flynn received a Ph.D. in biochemistry from the Imperial Cancer Research Fund / University College London and was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of California, San Francisco. About ANRE and ART5803 Anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis (ANRE), one of the most common forms of autoimmune encephalitis, is a rare, potentially lethal, and poorly managed neurological disease because it is often misdiagnosed. ANRE is caused by autoantibodies that crosslink and drive internalization of NMDA receptors (NMDAR), resulting in psychosis. Arialys’ lead therapeutic ART5803 is a therapeutic antibody designed to treat ANRE by blocking NMDAR autoantibodies. Arialys has generated promising preclinical data in a nonhuman primate disease model confirming ART5803 reverses encephalitis and decreases the behavioral symptoms caused by NMDAR autoantibody pathogenicity in the brain. Arialys has received orphan drug designation from the U.S. FDA for ART5803 for the treatment of ANRE. About Arialys Therapeutics Founded to explore the latest discoveries in autoimmune neuropsychiatry, Arialys Therapeutics is developing new precision medicines to specifically block pathogenic autoantibodies in the brain and meaningfully expand the treatment possibilities for neuropsychiatric disorders driven by autoimmune disease. Arialys is headquartered in the Avalon BioVentures Accelerator on the Torrey Pines Mesa, in La Jolla, California. For more info, visit .

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Xeno Biosciences Inc., a clinical stage drug discovery and development company advancing therapeutics for the treatment of obesity and metabolic diseases, announced today a change in executive leadership as of September 2023, and the completion of an additional financing round in February of 2024. This financing of $1.15M will fund a Phase 1b trial of the company’s lead compound, Xen-101, in obese individuals. The trial is expected to have top line results by the end of the year. The new president and CEO, Dennis D. Kim, MD, MBA, has 25 years of obesity and metabolic drug development expertise experience and has brought multiple obesity and metabolic disease drugs to the clinic and to market, including Byetta® (exenatide), Symlin® (pramlintide), Contrave® (bupropion/naltrexone), and seladelpar. He has been involved in numerous IPO’s/secondary offerings and has been the chief medical officer of multiple public companies, most recently at CymaBay Therapeutics, where he oversaw the design and execution of seladelpar Phase 3 Pivotal Program. “I’m excited to be spearheading the development of Xeno’s new oral obesity drug which has been shown to have high tolerability in initial Phase I trial and has a novel mechanism of action.” said Dr. Dennis Kim. “I have dedicated my career to this area of science and medicine. After many years of development, I am truly gratified to see obesity pharmaceuticals as having the potential to impact the lives of billions of people around the world. There is a strong unmet need for a drug with the pro Xen-101 and I look forward to our Phase 1b clinical trial results in obese adults in the near future.” “Dennis has an extraordinary depth of knowledge and is highly respected in the obesity field; I could not imagine anyone more perfect to lead our company,” said Jeff Arnold, Chairman and a Director at Xeno since 2017. “We are delighted that he has decided to join us and lead this exciting project.” For more information about Xeno Biosciences please contact Dr. Dennis Kim at dk23@xenobiosciences.com. About Xeno Biosciences Inc. Xeno Biosciences Inc. is a privately held drug development company dedicated to finding safe and effective treatments for obesity and metabolic diseases. Xeno is advancing its lead development candidate, XEN-101, to address the unmet need for an effective, well-tolerated, orally administered obesity treatment. With a new understanding of the underlying mechanism of action of Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass Surgery (RYGB), Xeno has developed a substitute for gastric bypass in a daily oral pill. XEN-101 has been shown to have wide safety margins and high tolerability in initial clinical trials. Dennis D. Kim, MD, MBA Dr. Dennis Kim is a scientist and a physician executive who brings 25 years of clinical research and biopharmaceutical industry experience to Xeno Biosciences. Dr. Kim served in a variety of senior executive positions in the industry, most recently as Chief Medical Officer at CymaBay, Emerald Biosciences, and Zafgen, Inc., as well as at Orexigen Therapeutics as the Senior Vice President of Medical Affairs. He also held various senior management positions at Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Inc. for over 7 years, including Executive Director of Corporate Strategy and Program Medical Lead for the development and commercialization of Byetta® (exenatide) for the treatment of type 2 diabetes. Dr. Kim completed his fellowship in Endocrinology/Metabolism at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine during which time he investigated the pathophysiology of diabetes and metabolic syndrome. He is extensively published in top peer-reviewed medical and scientific journals with over 50 publications to his name. Dr. Kim also received an MBA degree with honors from UCSD Rady School of Management with an emphasis on biotech structure and strategy. The securities sold in the aforementioned private placement have not been registered under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and may not be offered or sold in the United States in the absence of an effective registration statement or an applicable exemption from the registration requirements of the Securities Act. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy the aforementioned shares. In addition, this press release contains certain forward-looking statements regarding, among other things, statements relating to goals, plans and projections regarding the company’s financial position, results of operations, market position, product development and business strategy. Such forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and involve inherent risks and uncertainties, including factors that could delay, divert or change any of them, and could cause actual outcomes and results to differ materially from current expectations. No forward-looking statements can be guaranteed and actual results may differ materially from such statements. The information in this release is provided only as of the date of this release, and the company undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this release on account of new information, future events, or otherwise, except as required by law. View source version on businesswire.com: Contacts Dr. Dennis Kim dk23@xenobiosciences.com Source: Xeno Biosciences Inc. View this news release online at: