Targeting Hormone Dysregulation in Prader-Willi Syndrome

Prader-Willi syndrome is the most common genetic cause of life-threatening childhood obesity. It is a rare and complex condition that is characterized by unrelenting hunger, or hyperphagia, as well as intellectual disability, short stature, and incomplete sexual development. Millendo Therapeutics is developing livoletide, an experimental, first-in-class therapy that treats hyperphagia by targeting the underlying hormone dysregulation of Prader-Willi syndrome. We spoke to Julia Owens, CEO of Millendo, about Prader-Willi syndrome, the changing development path of livoletide, and what the company has learned as it shifted its focus to a different patient population.