New diabetes pill aims to lower blood sugar and support weight loss without heart risk

From diabetes.co.uk

• Scientists have designed a new kind of beta 2 receptor pill that tries to avoid the heart related side effects seen with older drugs in this class
• In animal studies, lead compounds lowered glucose and improved obesity measures without the usual cardiovascular or muscle problems
• An early phase 1 trial in healthy volunteers reported good tolerability, but patient trials are still needed

A research team in Sweden has developed a new class of oral medicines aimed at type 2 diabetes and obesity, built around a more selective way of activating the beta 2 adrenergic receptor. 

Older beta 2 receptor agonists have never really become mainstream options for metabolic disease because they can push unwanted signalling in the heart and they can also lose effect over time as the receptor becomes desensitised.

The approach here is different.

The compounds are designed to favour a GRK2 biased pathway, which the researchers link to better glucose uptake, while reducing the signalling routes associated with cardiac side effects.

To get there, the team used computer led screening and iterative chemistry to identify molecules that behave in this more selective way.

In preclinical testing, the lead candidates produced meaningful glucose lowering effects and improvements in obesity models.

Importantly, the researchers report these benefits without the cardiovascular and skeletal muscle issues that have limited conventional beta 2 agonists.

One lead compound has now moved into a placebo controlled phase 1 trial in healthy volunteers.

The study reported favourable pharmacokinetics and good tolerability, with no serious adverse events described.

That is encouraging, but it is also the earliest clinical step.

The real test will be whether the same safety profile holds up in people with type 2 diabetes or obesity, and whether it delivers clinically useful glucose and weight outcomes over time.

For clinicians and patients watching the pipeline, the headline is simple: this is a potential oral option that targets glucose control and weight through a different mechanism, with a deliberate attempt to avoid heart related harms.

It is promising, but it is not practice changing yet until phase 2 and later trials show clear efficacy and longer term safety in patients.

https://www.diabetes.co.uk/news/2025/dec/new-diabetes-pill-aims-to-lower-blood-sugar-and-support-weight-loss-without-heart-risk.html