Antag Therapeutics has appointed Joerg Moeller, MD, PhD, as Chief Executive Officer, effective immediately.

Dr. Moeller succeeds Antag's Co-Founder and former CEO, Dr. Alexander Sparre-Ulrich, who played a pivotal role in reaching clinical inflection points and establishing Antag as a leader in GIP receptor antagonism, a new mechanism in the field of obesity. Dr. Sparre-Ulrich will move into the position of Chief Operating Officer and will continue to support the company in a senior role.

With over 30 years of industry and leadership experience, Dr. Moeller has an impressive track record of successfully leading large global organizations and has built an expansive portfolio by driving strategic growth, regulatory compliance, and fostering innovation.

He has extensive experience in bringing first-in-class and best-in-class therapies to the market across a wide range of therapeutic areas, including cardio-metabolic, oncology, hematology, ophthalmology, female health, dermatology, and infectious diseases. Dr. Moeller was previously Head of Global R&D and a member of the executive leadership team at Bayer AG's Pharmaceutical Division where he led the development and global approval of numerous innovative therapies, redefined its pipeline strategy, and introduced strategic AI collaborations.

Philip Just Larsen, MD, PhD, Chair of Antag Therapeutics Board of Directors, said, "Dr. Moeller has a proven track record in pharmaceutical innovation and pioneering cutting-edge biotech solutions, and has the experience to drive Antag to its next phase of growth as we prepare to enter clinical development with our lead candidate, AT-7687.  On behalf of the Board, I want to thank Alexander for his exceptional contributions in founding and leading Antag into this critical stage of drug development. His work has laid a strong foundation for future success as we continue our commitment to delivering transformative therapies with the potential to improve patient outcomes and address the growing global burden of obesity and metabolic disorders."

2024 was a milestone year for Antag with the completion of a EUR 80m Series A financing and U.S. FDA IND clearance, to advance its first-in-class, lead candidate, AT-7687, into Phase 1 clinical development in early 2025. AT-7687 is a novel, once-weekly subcutaneous antagonist of the Glucose-Dependent Insulinotropic Polypeptide Receptor (GIPR).

By enhancing the efficacy of GLP-1-based therapies while mitigating tolerability issues, AT-7687 has the potential to deliver superior weight loss and revolutionize obesity management, while delivering metabolic benefits for obese patients as both a monotherapy and in combination with other therapies.

Joerg Moeller, MD, newly appointed Chief Executive Officer of Antag Therapeutics, commented, "Antag's innovative approach and new mechanism of action in obesity treatment, rooted in pioneering GIP receptor antagonism, holds tremendous potential to address the global rise of people living with obesity and improve the current standard of care. I look forward to working with Alexander and Antag's stellar leadership team as we advance our pipeline of injectable therapies, striving to benefit patients suffering from obesity and cardiometabolic diseases."

Most recently, Dr. Moeller served as CEO and Executive Board Member of BenevolentAI, a leader in AI-augmented drug discovery. Before this, he was the Global Head of Research and Development at LEO Pharma, a research-based pharmaceutical company specializing in medical dermatology.