Weight loss implants to increase compliance and cut admin burden for patients

The obesity treatment landscape has immensely improved but compliance remains a problem. Credit: Alones / Shutterstock

Obesity is a chronic metabolic disease characterised by excess body weight and comorbidities that can become life-threatening. The obesity treatment landscape has immensely improved in the past few years, but compliance remains a problem for patients. According to GlobalData, the next generation of obesity therapies will see candidates improving patients’ experience, from higher tolerability profiles to lower dosage frequency and better routes of administration.

Vivani Medical, an emerging biopharmaceutical company in the metabolic diseases space, is developing subdermal implants that are changed once or twice per year, delivering GLP-1R agonist with no need for a weekly injection.

Thanks to their NanoPortal implant technology, NPM-115 and NPM-139 will soon be able to deliver exenatide and semaglutide respectively in patients with obesity. The company has recently completed enrolment for its first-in-human trial, LIBERATE-1, investigating NPM-115. A trial of NPM-139 is expected to follow in due course.

In late March 2025, results from NPM-139’s preclinical study were announced. It confirmed that the treatment resulted in close-to-20% placebo-adjusted weight loss from a single administration and that this semaglutide implant could be eligible for once-yearly administration.

Key opinion leaders (KOLs) interviewed by GlobalData have stated that a twice-yearly or once-yearly therapy administration would be a great improvement from the current once-weekly administration. While a once-monthly injection is not seen as a major difference, experts seem enthusiastic about longer interval options. The self-administering nature of injection pens is not ideal, according to KOLs, as dosing errors can occur and patients can forget about them. Instead, a once or twice-yearly injection could be performed by a doctor or in a hospital setting, reducing patient responsibility and risk of error.

The application of the implant will likely be different to a small subcutaneous injection, so patients’ perspectives on the implant administration experience will be crucial for treatment uptake and the perception of these candidates. Reduced frequency of administration is very encouraging for patient compliance, and if the implant delivery is smooth and safe, it could secure a large number of patients who are adverse to weekly injections and self-administration. This is especially beneficial as they are likely to need lifelong treatment.