Boston– Eccogene announced that it has received a $50 million milestone payment from AstraZeneca following the start of a global Phase 3 clinical program for elecoglipron, also known as AZD5004/ECC5004.
Elecoglipron is an investigational once-daily oral small molecule GLP-1 receptor agonist being developed for cardiometabolic diseases. The drug was discovered by Eccogene and licensed to AstraZeneca outside Greater China in November 2023.
Eccogene said it has received $295 million to date under the collaboration and remains eligible for additional milestone and royalty payments.
The Phase 3 program includes the Embold trials, which will evaluate elecoglipron in people with obesity or overweight, with and without type 2 diabetes.
The Eluminate trials will evaluate elecoglipron as a monotherapy and in combination with dapagliflozin in people with type 2 diabetes.
Two additional Elevate outcome trials will evaluate the drug in people with heart failure with mildly reduced or preserved ejection fraction and in people with chronic kidney disease, on a background of dapagliflozin and other standard-of-care treatments.
The start of the Phase 3 program follows topline results from the Phase 2b VISTA and SOLSTICE trials.
Eccogene said the VISTA study showed 11.8% weight loss at 36 weeks in adults with obesity or overweight and at least one weight-related comorbidity. The SOLSTICE study showed a 1.9% reduction in HbA1c at 26 weeks in adults with type 2 diabetes.
The findings were presented at the American Diabetes Association 2026 Scientific Sessions in New Orleans and published in The Lancet.
“Elecoglipron entering Phase 3 is the moment our team has been building toward since we first discovered this molecule,” said Jingye Zhou, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of Eccogene.
Zhou said the program represents a step toward developing new oral treatment options for obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart failure and chronic kidney disease.
Eccogene is also developing a pipeline of therapies for metabolic and inflammatory diseases, including clinical-stage programs targeting THR-β and SSAO and preclinical programs targeting GIPR, AmylinR and other pathways.
