On December 23, 2024, Eli Lilly's first dual GIP and GLP-1 receptor agonist injection, Mounjaro® (Tirzepatide), was officially launched in mainland China, sparking significant market attention. As a once-weekly innovative therapy, Mounjaro® delivers exceptional blood sugar control and significant weight loss, marking a new chapter in the weight management treatment landscape in China.

Fierce Competition in the Trillion-Dollar Metabolic Disease Market

Over the past two years, Semaglutide has gained rapid popularity with its outstanding performance as a long-acting GLP-1 receptor agonist. Celebrity endorsements, including from Elon Musk, have further elevated its status as a "miracle drug" in the weight loss market. Driven by this success, GLP-1 drugs have become a highly competitive field among pharmaceutical giants. Barclays predicts that the global weight loss drug market will reach $150 billion by 2030.

Tirzepatide is now available online in China, priced similarly to weight-loss Semaglutide

On December 4, Eli Lilly announced that Tirzepatide had significantly outperformed Semaglutide in weight loss efficacy during a head-to-head Phase 3 clinical trial. Following the announcement, Eli Lilly's stock rose over 2% by market close, pushing its market capitalization close to $790 billion. As the "strongest rival" to Semaglutide, Tirzepatide leverages a dual-target mechanism of GIP and GLP-1 to achieve groundbreaking weight loss results. It debuted on the Meituan platform on December 23, officially entering the Chinese market, and sold out in just 3 seconds on its launch night, highlighting strong market enthusiasm. According to platform data, pre-launch reservations surged by 300% daily, reflecting high expectations and strong market recognition.

BG control, weight loss and effective for MASH—Tirzepatide offers it all

On June 8, 2024, Eli Lilly announced the detailed results of its Phase 2 SYNERGY-NASH clinical trial of Tirzepatide for treating MASH patients. The data was first presented at the European Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL) Annual Meeting and simultaneously published in The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) under the title "Tirzepatide for Metabolic Dysfunction–Associated Steatohepatitis with Liver Fibrosis."

The study shows that Tirzepatide has a positive effect on MASH relief
and the prevention and treatment of liver fibrosis ¹

The study showed that the trial met its primary endpoint. After 52 weeks of treatment, 51.8%, 62.8%, and 73.3% of patients receiving 5 mg, 10 mg, and 15 mg doses of Tirzepatide achieved MASH relief without worsening liver fibrosis, compared to only 13.2% in the placebo group (all doses, p<0.001).            

To meet the drug development needs of GLP-1R, GIPR, and GCGR agonists, as well as MASH-targeted agonists for THRA and THRB, ACROBiosystems has developed high-quality products based on the signaling mechanisms of these molecules using HEK293 cells:

• Human GLP-1R (Luc) HEK293 Reporter Cell, Human GIPR (Luc) HEK293 Reporter Cell, Human GCGR (Luc) HEK293 Reporter Cell, Human THRA (Luc) HEK293 Reporter Cell, Human THRB (Luc) HEK293 Reporter Cell: These cell lines, validated through receptor expression and functional activity, can be used in studies of agonist drug signaling functions, cell-based drug activity assays and screening, and CMC quality control release applications.

• GLP-1R Recombinant Proteins, GIPR Recombinant Proteins, GCGR Recombinant Proteins, GCGR Recombinant Protein (Detergent): Expressed in human cells and verified by SEC-MALS, ELISA, SPR, and BLI, these proteins are characterized by high purity, high activity, and excellent batch-to-batch consistency, making them suitable for immunology, antibody screening, and candidate drug function validation.

• Full-Length GLP-1R Recombinant Protein (Detergent), Full-Length GCGR Recombinant Protein (VLP): To address the challenges of low expression levels and difficult-to-obtain native conformations of the seven-transmembrane proteins GLP-1R and GCGR, ACROBiosystems has successfully developed full-length GLP-1R and full-length GCGR proteins using the "Membrane Masterpiece" transmembrane target protein development platform. The biological activity of full-length GLP-1R protein has been validated through GLP-1R agonist binding, and full-length GCGR protein has been verified through GCGR monoclonal antibody binding, supporting the development of GLP-1R and GCGR-targeted antibody drugs.

• High, Medium, and Low Expression HEK293/Human GLP-1R Stable Cell Line: Cell lines with different expression levels support various applications, including large-scale biopharmaceutical production, early-stage antibody discovery, and functional studies of target proteins at natural expression levels. GLP-1R antigens are stably expressed on the host cell membrane, fulfilling the needs for antibody drug activity screening (cell-based binding and blocking) and CAR molecule killing activity evaluation.

ACROBiosystems performs batch-by-batch quality control on all products, verifying properties such as purity and binding activity, and provides free protocols with experimental parameters and procedures developed by our research team to help you save R&D time.