Fujian Shengdi tests GLP-1/GIP drug on knee pain and weight together
Ribupatide's Phase 3 pairs a WOMAC pain endpoint with body-weight loss, betting obesity drugs can double as osteoarthritis therapy in a mostly untested combination.
Executive Summary
- Fujian Shengdi Pharmaceutical has registered a Phase 3 study of its injectable dual GLP-1/GIP receptor agonist ribupatide, testing it in obese patients who also have knee osteoarthritis.
- The trial pairs a knee-pain endpoint with the standard body-weight endpoint used across the obesity drug class, treating joint pain as a co-primary outcome rather than a secondary observation.
- Ribupatide enters a mechanism class already carrying more than a dozen direct comparators in Phase 3 or later, including programs from Novo Nordisk, Eli Lilly, AstraZeneca, and Roche, but none of the named peers registers osteoarthritis pain as a primary measure.
- The study has not yet begun enrolling, and its primary completion date sits more than two years out, leaving the pain-relief hypothesis untested until that data matures.
The trial
The study, filed under NCT07709910, will enroll 382 adults with a body mass index of at least 28 kg/m2 and a clinical diagnosis of knee osteoarthritis confirmed by X-ray grading. Participants receive ribupatide by injection over 68 weeks of treatment, with follow-up through week 76. The trial has not started recruiting, and its start date is set for July 2026, with a primary completion date of November 1, 2028. NCT07709910A Trial of Ribupatide Injection in Participants With Obesity and Knee OsteoarthritisNCT07709910
The endpoints
The design carries two primary measures: change from baseline in WOMAC pain score, a standard osteoarthritis symptom scale, and percentage change in body weight, both assessed after 68 weeks. Secondary measures add joint function and stiffness subscores, pain-intensity ratings, waist circumference, and analgesic use during treatment. That structure treats knee pain reduction as a claim to be established on its own terms, not as a byproduct of weight loss. NCT07709910A Trial of Ribupatide Injection in Participants With Obesity and Knee OsteoarthritisNCT07709910
The competitive field
Ribupatide is not a first-in-class asset. Direct comparators sharing the GLP-1 receptor and peptide modality already run in Phase 3 or Phase 4, including Novo Nordisk's semaglutide, Eli Lilly's tirzepatide and retatrutide, AstraZeneca's elecoglipron, and Roche's enicepatide. None of those named trials registers a knee osteoarthritis pain endpoint, which makes ribupatide's co-primary WOMAC measure the differentiating design choice in this field rather than the underlying mechanism. GLP-1 receptor field activity has slowed broadly, with recent trial starts running at roughly a fifth of the pace of older trials in the target. NCT07709910A Trial of Ribupatide Injection in Participants With Obesity and Knee OsteoarthritisNCT07709910
Sponsor and mechanism
Fujian Shengdi Pharmaceutical has one other trial recorded testing a GLP-1-class peptide, HRS-4729 in a liver disease, and reports a completion rate across its broader trial history without any terminations. The sponsor's own portfolio spans 61 trials, split across completed, recruiting, and not-yet-recruiting stages, giving it operational history in trial execution even though ribupatide itself has one active program on file. NCT07709910A Trial of Ribupatide Injection in Participants With Obesity and Knee OsteoarthritisNCT07709910
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