Introduction

As our team prepares for expert interviews on obesity, we conducted preliminary research to identify key trends and gaps. Current data reveal obesity as a growing global health crisis, with significant implications for healthcare systems and economic burdens.

Key Findings

1. Rising Prevalence:
• Worldwide obesity has nearly tripled since 1975 (WHO, 2021).
• In China, over 50% of adults are overweight/obese, with urban rates higher than rural (Lancet, 2020).
2. Economic Impact:
• Obesity-related conditions cost the U.S. healthcare system $260 billion annually (CDC, 2022).
• China's obesity-related medical expenses grew by 50% from 2010 to 2020 (Zhao, S., Xu, X., You H., et al., 2023).
3. Treatment Gaps:
• Existing drugs (e.g., GLP-1 agonists) face challenges: high cost, side effects, and rebound weight gain (NEJM, 2023).
• Only 10% of obese patients receive long-term effective treatment (WHO, 2022).

Existing drugs are limited by side effects and high costs, which inspired us to search for safer and more sustainable alternatives.

Interview Focus Areas

Our team will explore:

• Prevention strategies: How can policy and education affect obesity rates?
• Innovative therapies: What alternatives address current drug limitations?
• Tech integration: Can digital tools improve weight management adherence?

We designed an online questionnaire to explore public views on obesity, distributed via WeChat and school networks, with responses anonymized to ensure privacy. After screening for completeness, we analyzed 588 valid responses (215 males, 373 females; 60% aged 15-19, 30% aged 36-45). Four key questions covered dietary habits, obesity criteria, contributing factors, and medical intervention needs, informing SlimSpore’s design.

Figure 2 Response to question: ‘Which of the following best describes your dietary habits?’(multiple choices)

Nearly half of the participants eat high-fat or high-sugar food in their daily lives. These foods contribute a lot to obesity.

Figure 3 Responses to the question for women: ‘At what weight do you consider a woman with a height of 165 cm to be obese?’

As shown in Figure 3, a large proportion of people perceive that a woman weighing over 70kg is obese. 70kg falls between the medical criteria of "overweight" and "obesity", reflecting the fact that potential patients may underestimate their risk. This poses a challenge for drug development regarding market targeting and patient education, and strategies need to be optimized through awareness-raising, expansion of clinical trials, etc.

Figure 4 Responses to question: ‘Which of the following factors may contribute to obesity? (Multiple choice)

The public generally attributes obesity to lifestyle (exercise, diet, sleep), but there is a relative lack of awareness of physiological factors such as genetics and metabolism. We learn that it is necessary to emphasize the complexity of obesity and reduce patient bias.

Figure 5 Response to question: ‘Do you think obesity requires medical intervention?’

The mainstream view (65.48%) has accepted that obesity requires medical intervention, laying the foundation for drug promotion. However, we may have more promotion, for example, hold lectures in communities to make people unsure realize the efficiency of medical intervention.

Questionnaire 1 data analysis conclusion:

The research showed a bias in public perception of obesity, although 65.48% agree that medical intervention is needed, physiological factors are generally underestimated, and behavioral characteristics are overestimated. People's diets have also become more oil- and sugar-rich as a result of the development of fast food. This points to some directions for drug development: designing metabolism-targeted inhibitors, breaking down cognitive barriers, and ultimately realizing the commercialization model of "accurate diagnosis-targeted medication-dynamic management". Reflecting on our IHP, we recognized education as pivotal. Public bias toward lifestyle factors (Fig.4) and BMI misjudgments (Fig.3) risks delayed treatment. Our flyer and community lectures aim to bridge this gap, empowering informed health choices.

Interviewing Mr. Ma, who had a medication history of Semaglutide

Interviewee Background

Initial BMI: 28 (classified as obese).

• Weight loss goal: Fast weight reduction.
• Medication experience:
  • Used semaglutide in two phases in 2024 (14 days + 1 month).
  • Short-term weight loss of 6–8 lbs after discontinuation, but rebounded to original weight (160 lbs).
  • Observed reduced waist circumference but experienced gastrointestinal discomfort and acute pancreatitis.

Our team member conducted an interview that focused on obesity treatment, specifically weight loss, including experiences, effects, and recommendations with a patient who had a medication history of Semaglutide. We combined the interviewee's (Mr. Ma) personal medication experience to analyze the drug's impact on weight, lifestyle habits, and psychological state.

Figure 6 Team members interviewing Mr. Ma

Conclusions: Key Takeaways

After the interview, a few conclusions are listed below:

1. Effective but with side effects: Semaglutide showed short-term weight loss results (6-8lbs), but caused gastrointestinal issues, acute pancreatitis, and continuous low mood (due to prolonged fullness and gastrointestinal discomfort). Moreover, rebound weight gain occurs after discontinuation.
2. Awareness and Motivation for Use: Social media was the major source of related information; other sources are biomedical literature and recommendations from Professor Ma's friends and family.
3. Future expectations and user preferences: Desired improvements include shorter treatment times, fewer side effects, oral options, and lower intake frequency.
4. Social divide: Supporters praised weight loss results, while critics advocated natural weight loss methods like exercise/diet ("all medicine is somewhat toxic").
5. Views on our hardware devices: User-friendly, reliable data at a reasonable cost.

Interviewing Professor Ma also highlighted the gap between medication efficacy and real-world usability.

Key insights: patients desire shorter treatments, fewer side effects, oral options, and convenient intake. Social media strongly shapes user awareness and motivation, underscoring the need for clear public education. The experience of rebound weight gain and severe side effects, coupled with the desire for oral, short-term, and lower-risk options, underscored the importance of minimizing side effects and pursuing oral delivery for SlimSpore. We will also integrate educational outreach via social media to promote safe and informed obesity treatment.

Interview with Doctor Lingyan Huang

Interviewee Background: Chief of Operation and Management Section, Quzhou Hospital, Zhejiang Provincial Medical and Healthcare Group.

The interview comprehensively examined critical aspects of obesity management by highlighting the gaps in current treatment options, particularly their side effects and limitations in the long run. Doctor Huang explained China's national policy priorities regarding weight management and its broader implications for public health and economic sustainability. The conversation explored innovative drug development strategies that balanced safety, effectiveness and affordability, while advocating for a shift toward preventive care supported by technology-integrated monitoring solutions.

Figure 7 Team members interviewing Doctor Ling Yan Huang

Conclusions: Key Takeaways

After the interview, a few conclusions are listed below:

1. Current social context contributes to the rising obesity rates: Accelerated lifestyles have led to increased consumption of fast food and processed foods. Thus, contributing to rising obesity rates. Moreover, food additives in these products may disrupt glucose metabolism, increasing the risk of type 2 diabetes.
2. Limitations of current obesity treatments: Semaglutide and similar drugs have significant drawbacks, including side effects (nausea, vomiting, pancreatitis, kidney issues), poor absorption via injection, potential allergic reactions, weight rebound after discontinuation without lifestyle changes and limited safety data for adolescent use despite growing obesity rates in this group.
3. China’s focus on weight management as a nation: Rapid economic growth led to overnutrition, driving obesity and related chronic diseases (hypertension, diabetes, heart disease). Rising healthcare costs have prompted the government to prioritize preventive weight management to reduce long-term economic and societal burdens.
4. Pros & cons of our proposed drug: Doctor Huang stated that our medication is safer (with an endogenous mechanism) and more cost-effective compared with other drugs on the market. However, some disadvantages are that it may cause potential intestinal harm from excessive gas removal and has modest weight loss effects.
5. Future expectation: Some of the requirements are affordable, fast-acting, and high-safety. They are clinically validated for inclusion in medical guidelines and insurance coverage and scalable for rapid adoption.
6. Challenges we may face and recommendations: During Investigation, we face obstacles such as gas concentration control, clearance timing, and real-time monitoring. Doctor Huang also recommended that we create home-use devices with data visualization for patient tracking. Other things we need to ensure are H₂S clearance, a boost in GLP-1 secretion, bacterial survival in the gut, and sustained therapeutic effect.
7. Doctor Huang's core insight is that prevention is more important than treatment. Effective obesity management requires safer drugs, better monitoring tools, and policy support to curb chronic diseases and economic strain.

This interview reinforced the importance of prevention-oriented design and patient-centered usability. Based on Dr. Huang’s advice, we plan to:

• Strengthen monitoring functions in our hardware for real-time patient tracking.
• Improve user-friendliness to enable home use.
• Align our product with policy and insurance pathways, ensuring accessibility and long-term adoption.

Through expert interviews, we identified several key problems in obesity management: fast food and processed foods are making more people overweight, while food additives may increase the rate. Drugs like semaglutide help with weight loss but are associated with negative side effects (stomach pain, pancreatitis), and weight rebound after discontinuation, with these drugs possibly not being safe for teenagers. China's economic growth has led to an unhealthy diet and more obesity-related diseases, prompting the government to focus on preventing obesity to reduce healthcare costs. Our new drug is safer and cheaper than others, but might cause stomach problems and does not help people lose as much weight. People want future treatments to be affordable, fast-working, and safe medicines with convenient ways to track progress (like home devices). Key difficulties we need to solve include controlling the body's gas levels and ensuring the treatment lasts long enough. The most important lesson is that preventing obesity is better than treating it, requiring better medicines, good monitoring tools, and government support.

Interview with Doctor Zhifu Xie:

Interviewee Background:

Dr. Xie Zhifu, Associate Researcher and Master's Supervisor at the Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica (SIMM), Chinese Academy of Sciences, specializes in metabolic disorders (e.g., liver diseases and obesity). His expertise in pharmacology and drug development informed our project’s scientific and translational dimensions.

Our iGEM team investigates how SQR and FCSD enzymes (expressed in E. coli) can reduce intestinal hydrogen sulfide (H₂S) to alleviate its inhibition of the GLP-1 pathway, thereby enhancing insulin secretion and fat reduction. Dr. Xie acknowledged this strategy’s potential for fewer side effects than GLP-1 agonists (e.g., semaglutide), which often cause gastrointestinal distress and weight rebound.

Figure 8 Team members interviewing Doctor Zhi Fu Xie

Key Takeaways

1. Our Approach’s potential advantage: Dr. Xie recognized our strategy's potential advantages over current GLP-1 agonists like semaglutide, particularly its potential for fewer side effects. Traditional GLP-1 treatments often cause gastrointestinal issues and weight rebound after discontinuation, whereas our enzymatic approach could offer a gentler alternative for obesity treatment.
2. Microbial Host Selection & GLP-1 Pathway Dynamics: Dr. Xie provided valuable insights into optimizing our microbial host system. He recommended exploring probiotic strains beyond E. coli for safer and more effective intestinal colonization. He also explained the critical relationship between diet and GLP-1 pathway function, noting that high-fat and high-sugar diets can damage L cells in the intestine.
3. Pros and Cons of GLP-1 Receptor Agonists: While acknowledging the efficacy of existing GLP-1 drugs, Dr. Xie discussed their significant limitations, including unpleasant side effects (such as nausea and pancreatic risks) and high costs that limit patient access. He emphasized two key development directions: creating long-acting formulations to reduce the burden of frequent injections, and discovering new molecular targets that could provide more cell-specific actions with improved safety profiles.
4. Hardware (Portable H₂S Detection Device): We presented our hardware with home, hospital, and laboratory versions. Dr. Xie offered constructive feedback about measurement accuracy, noting that breath analysis might not reliably reflect intestinal H₂S levels. Additionally, he supported our plans for data integration, emphasizing the value of real-time monitoring through connected apps for both patients and healthcare providers.
5. H₂S Modulation Strategies: The discussion explored different approaches to regulating hydrogen sulfide levels. Dr. Xie cautioned about potential risks to the intestinal mucosal barrier. Regarding enzyme delivery, he pointed out the limitations of traditional oral capsules due to their vulnerability to digestion. Instead, he proposed an innovative solution using engineered E. coli to produce SQR and FCSD enzymes directly in the gut environment.

Conclusions & Future Directions

1. Scientific Validation: Our enzyme-based H₂S reduction aligns with GLP-1 pathway optimization but requires a number of trials.
2. Clinical Gaps: Current GLP-1 drugs have limitations; our approach offers a cost-effective, low-side-effect alternative.
3. Delivery Systems: Dr. Xie noted that coating materials might degrade in the stomach, preventing enzymes from reaching the intestines. Later research revealed the existence of enteric coatings—materials that dissolve only in the intestines, unaffected by stomach acid—addressing this knowledge gap.
4. Holistic Strategy: Combines microbial engineering, device-based monitoring, and personalized dosing for obesity management.

Interview with Doctor Dongfeng Wang

Interviewee Background:

Dr. Dongfeng Wang, Associate Chief Physician and University Lecturer (Ph.D. in Orthopaedic Surgery, Wuhan University), brings emergency medicine expertise in obesity-related complications at Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University. His clinical insights critically informed our drug development.

During our discussion with Dr. Wang, we explored the dual role of H₂S in gut health and established the therapeutic window for our E. coli-based enzyme system (SQR/FCSD) to modulate intestinal H₂S levels. The conversation validated our approach's advantages over existing GLP-1 drugs in safety and physiological compatibility, while hospital H₂S detection methods informed our device development. Dr. Wang also highlighted our platform's potential expansion to metabolic diseases nd recommended omnivorous animal models for preclinical trials. This interview grounded our synthetic biology approach in clinical realities, highlighting both opportunities and translational challenges.

Figure 9 Team members interviewing Doctor Dong Feng Wang

Content

1. Dual Effects of H₂S & Therapeutic Rationale: Dr. Wang confirmed H₂S's "double-edged sword" nature: protective at low levels (mucosal integrity, blood pressure regulation) but harmful at high concentrations (inflammation, mineral malabsorption, carcinogenic risks). This validates our goal to modulate rather than eliminate H₂S.
2. Advantages Over Existing Drugs: Compared to GLP-1 agonists (e.g., semaglutide) linked to depression, pancreatitis, and nutritional deficiencies, our approach offers a natural mechanism, reduced side effects, and better applicability.
3. Current H₂S Detection Methods in Clinics:
• Colorimetry: Sensitivity 0.02 mg/L.
• Toluene method: PPB-level detection for precise pathological analysis.
• ELISA kits: High-throughput screening via antibody specificity.

These inform our portable device development.

4. Potential for Metabolic Disease Applications:

Building on clinical detection methods, Dr. Wang provided practical advice to improve our portable H₂S monitoring device:

• Shorten the connecting tube between the third and fourth chambers to avoid backflow caused by negative pressure during reactions.
• Extend the tube from the fourth to the fifth chamber to reduce accidental suction.
• Ensure the fifth chamber has a longer tube and contains liquid to dissolve exhaust gas, preventing secondary release.
• Stabilize the setup in a transparent rectangular box for both safety and observation convenience.
• Set the target price between 500–700 RMB, which he considered reasonable for clinical and consumer accessibility.



Figure 10 hardware (2.0 version)

Conclusions & Future Directions

1. Therapeutic Balance: Our enzyme-based H₂S modulation strategy must maintain optimal concentrations to preserve mucosal benefits while mitigating high-level toxicity.
2. Competitive Edge: Natural E. coli delivery systems show promise for safer, more physiological obesity treatment compared to synthetic drugs.
3. Technical Validation: Hospital H₂S assays (colorimetry, ELISA) provide benchmarks for our diagnostic device’s sensitivity requirements.
4. Device Development: Dr. Wang’s hardware suggestions offer actionable guidance for improving safety, stability, and affordability in real-world applications.
5. Disease Expansion: The platform’s mechanistic basis in energy metabolism supports potential applications for diabetes and NAFLD, pending further studies.

Interview with professor Xiaofei Yu: Principal Investigator and Inspiration for the Project

Interviewee Background:

Dr. Xiaofei Yu is a Principal Investigator and Doctoral Supervisor at the School of Life Sciences, Fudan University. His research focuses on the suppression mechanisms of T lymphocytes within the tumor microenvironment and their genetic engineering. After completing his B.S. in Biology at Fudan University, he pursued graduate studies in the United States, earning his Ph.D. in Immunology from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, followed by postdoctoral research at The Rockefeller University and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. He returned to Fudan University as a faculty member in 2019.

In 2024, Dr. Yu’s team published the paper Hydrogen sulfide produced by the gut microbiota impairs host metabolism via reducing GLP-1 levels in male mice, which provided the foundational inspiration for our project’s hardware design. After carefully studying this work, we reached out to Dr. Yu by email to introduce our project and share some initial hardware ideas. He kindly agreed to meet with us, and during the discussion, he offered patient guidance and many practical suggestions. This interaction not only grounded our project in cutting-edge scientific findings but also gave our team tremendous encouragement.

Figure 11 our online meeting with Prof. Yu

Content

Hardware Recommendations:

The professor noted that hydrogen sulfide (H₂S) in the intestines may not always exist in gaseous form. Therefore, during detection, adding acid to the sample could help release H₂S, as failure to do so might lead to underestimation or inaccurate measurements due to the principle of strong acids displacing weak acids. Furthermore, given that hydrogen sulfide has strong reducing properties and may oxidize upon contact with oxygen in the air, it is advisable to evacuate the container or attempt to isolate the sample from oxygen to ensure detection accuracy.

There is also a need to verify whether the sensor is specifically detecting H₂S. Unlike lead acetate test strips, which confirm the presence of H₂S through a specific color-changing chemical reaction, the sensor may require additional validation to confirm its specificity. Additionally, using sodium sulfide combined with acid can generate relatively pure H₂S, which can be used to test the upper and lower detection limits of the hardware. This will help determine its operational range and provide better guidance for subsequent sampling.

Suggestions on Other Aspects of the Project:

Regarding the material selection for the capsule coating: Since hydrogen sulfide is produced mainly in the ileum and colon, it is important to ensure precise drug delivery to these areas. It may be useful to look into materials used for "enteric coating" and consult pharmacology experts or professionals.

Concerning whether taking SQR and FCSD could trigger an immune response: From the perspective of intestinal immunity, the immune system has already established oral tolerance. Protein-based tablets would be digested and are unlikely to cause significant immune reactions.

As for whether reduced H₂S levels might affect gut microbiota stability: Disruption of microbial balance is a potential concern. However, a decrease in H₂S within the normal range may not necessarily be detrimental to the host, as epithelial cells possess inherent pathways to detoxify hydrogen sulfide.

Regarding whether reduced H₂S could affect metabolic pathways other than GLP-1: While H₂S may influence various metabolic pathways, many of these may not be highly significant or detectable in terms of expression levels. Since GLP-1 is a major secreted protein, the focus remains on its detection. An interesting insight is that neutralizing H₂S might influence other metabolic pathways more broadly, potentially yielding better outcomes than solely increasing GLP-1 expression. This aspect warrants further investigation.

Conclusions & Future directions

From our discussion with Prof. Yu, we gained both technical and conceptual guidance that significantly improved our project:

1. Hardware validation is critical — detection of H₂S requires acidification to release gas, protection from oxidation, and careful calibration with pure H₂S to ensure sensor specificity and reliable detection ranges.
2. Capsule design must ensure targeted delivery — especially to the ileum and colon, where H₂S is primarily produced; enteric coating materials and expert consultation are essential.
3. Safety considerations were reassuring — oral tolerance minimizes immune response risks, and moderate reduction of H₂S is unlikely to harm microbiota balance.
4. Broader metabolic implications exist — while GLP-1 remains the main target, H₂S neutralization might also positively affect other pathways, opening new directions for exploration.

Overall, Prof. Yu’s insights not only strengthened the scientific foundation of our hardware design but also broadened our vision of the project’s potential impact.

Our research identified key challenges in obesity treatment: current GLP-1 drugs cause side effects (nausea, pancreatitis) and weight rebound, while being expensive. We're developing a safer alternative using enzymes to control hydrogen sulfide (H₂S) in guts - too much H₂S causes inflammation but some is needed for protection. Our approach uses engineered bacteria instead of injections, which could be cheaper and more natural. However, we face challenges like making the treatment work reliably in large-scale production, creating accurate H₂S detection devices, and ensuring the bacteria survive digestion to work properly in intestines. Experts suggest exploring probiotic delivery and blood testing instead of breath analysis for better results. Nevertheless, blood testing faces practical barriers: at-home blood collection is inconvenient, carries risks of contamination, and blood often contains interfering substances that compromise accuracy. For these reasons, we currently rely on breath-based detection, though we will continue to explore blood testing as a promising future direction. This method might also help with diabetes and liver disease in the future.

Our team designed another online questionnaire on people’s needs regarding weight loss drugs, targeting groups of people who need to lose weight. A total of 28 people participated. The participants were 6 males and 22 females, mainly working-age people(18-40 years old).

We chose 3 key questions in this questionnaire, including measures taken for weight loss, the most concentrated aspects of weight loss drugs, and some product forms preferred by patients who have used obesity drugs.

Figure 12 Response to question: ' Under which condition would you start considering using diet drugs?' (multiple choices )

The chart shows that the public's demands for weight loss drugs mainly occur when they are anxious about their body shape. Other conditions include when people are overweight or have obesity problems (where they occupy the same percentage).

Figure 13 Response to the question:' What aspect do you care about most about diet drugs?' ( multiple choices )

The data shows that the public's demands for weight loss drugs mainly focus on four aspects: price, side effects, safety, weight loss effect and onset time. Among them, the participants have the highest requirements for safety.

Figure 14 Response to question for participants who have used or are currently using weight loss drugs:' you want our product to be:'（multiple choices)

The data may not be accurate because the number of participants answering this question is relatively small. The data shows that all the participants have tried capsule-type weight loss drugs, and the rest have used oral liquid, protein tablets, and other forms more frequently. This reflects that patients' usage preferences tend towards capsules.

Questionnaire 2 data analysis conclusion:

The survey reveals that body image anxiety is the main driver for weight loss, though some participants also reported related conditions like hyperlipidemia and fatty liver. Most attempt weight control through diet and exercise, while relatively few rely on drugs. Still, many found current methods either tiring or harmful, highlighting a clear demand for treatments that are effective yet free of side effects—a view further confirmed by participants’ focus on drug safety and efficacy.

This survey also suggests that capsule formulations are most familiar and acceptable to users, which supports our consideration of developing our product in capsule form. In addition, the high priority participants placed on safety directly shaped our design choices, such as prioritizing probiotics with established safety records and avoiding toxic gene elements. Nevertheless, the total sample size was only 28, so the findings should be interpreted with caution and validated with larger, more diverse populations in the future.

Expert Insights from Yipinhong Pharmaceuticals

Interviewee Background: Mr. Mao Ye, R&D Director of Yipinhong Pharmaceuticals

In this interview, we have invited Mr. Mao Ye, R&D Director of Yipinhong Pharmaceuticals. Given that Mr. Ye is knowledgeable about R&D and commercial production, we asked Mr. Ye to give us some suggestions on our drug, technology and commercialization development prospects. This interview with Mr. Mao Ye, R&D Director of Yipinhong Pharmaceuticals, evaluated the commercial viability of our obesity treatment targeting H₂S modulation via SQR/FCSD enzymes. Discussions covered competitive advantages, regulatory pathways, production challenges, and market potential, providing strategic guidance for our project’s translational development.

Figure 15 Team members interviewing Mr. Mao Ye

Content

1. Competitive Positioning vs. GLP-1 Agonists: While existing drugs (e.g., semaglutide) focus on prolonging GLP-1 activity synthetically, our approach enhances endogenous GLP-1 secretion by modulating the gut microenvironment. This offers physiological alignment and lower production costs (leveraging mature E. coli fermentation), but faces absorption challenges versus injectables, requiring dose optimization.
2. Production & Scalability Obstacles: Including purification complexity where metabolites and by-products can significantly compromise target protein yield. Additionally, it's much harder to control important conditions like temperature and acidity in industrial factories compared to lab settings. Perhaps most critically, the current protein extraction process remains inefficient, resulting in low yields that inevitably extend development timelines and increase costs.
3. Market Expansion Potential: Our treatment has several potential markets to explore. One promising area is health supplements. We could develop probiotic products containing helpful bacteria that naturally produce our enzymes, which might avoid strict medicine regulations. The treatment may also help with metabolic diseases like diabetes and fatty liver disease, since hydrogen sulfide affects how the body processes energy. However, it likely won't be suitable for children anytime soon, because we don't yet have enough safety data and kids' medicines require extremely high safety standards.
4. Regulatory Pathways: While governments around the world support new medical developments, our treatment faces some regulatory challenges. First, it probably won't be approved as an over-the-counter medicine because its large molecule structure makes it difficult to guarantee consistent quality and safety. Second, we'll need to complete all three phases of required clinical testing (Phase I, II and III), and even after approval, the manufacturing process will need ongoing monitoring to ensure safety and quality standards are met.

Conclusions & Future Directions

1. Strategic Advantage: Our drug’s cost-effective production and physiological mechanism differentiate it from GLP-1 agonists, though oral bioavailability needs improvement to compete with injectables.
2. Manufacturing Challenges: Industrial-scale production requires solving yield, purification, and process control issues to ensure economic viability.
3. Market Opportunities: Prioritize obesity and metabolic diseases; explore probiotic-based supplements as an alternative revenue stream while acknowledging OTC/pediatric limitations.
4. Regulatory Realism: Commit to full clinical trials and focus on prescription drug approval, leveraging government support for innovative biologics.
5. Long-term R&D: Invest in mitochondrial function research to unlock anti-inflammatory benefits and expand therapeutic claims.

In the future, we will focus on improving oral bioavailability, optimizing large-scale production, and validating our approach through rigorous clinical studies to bring a safer and more accessible obesity treatment to patients.

Our research reveals strong public demand for effective, side-effect-free weight loss solutions, as current methods like dieting or existing drugs often prove tiring or harmful. Addressing this, our innovative Slimspore offers a safer, cost-effective alternative to GLP-1 agonists, with potential applications in obesity, diabetes, and liver disease. Key priorities include optimizing oral bioavailability, scaling production (resolving yield and purification challenges), and advancing blood-based H₂S detection for accurate monitoring. While focusing on prescription drug approval through clinical trials, we will explore long-term R&D to investigate mitochondrial benefits for enhancing anti-inflammatory effects, aligning with both patient needs and regulatory pathways for sustainable impact.

Our primary end users are adults struggling with obesity and related metabolic disorders such as diabetes and NAFLD, especially those seeking safer alternatives to GLP-1 agonists. Secondary users include healthcare providers who will support monitoring, guidance, and patient education.

SlimSpore is designed as an oral, capsule-based therapy that ensures effective intestinal delivery. Its functions include promoting insulin secretion, delaying gastric emptying, regulating appetite, restoring normal metabolic function, reducing fat accumulation, and achieving weight loss. Users will have access to a 24-hour online consultation service, enabling personalized guidance and real-time support.

SlimSpore minimizes side effects compared to existing drugs, and incorporates educational and monitoring components to promote informed health decisions, demonstrating our commitment to responsible and beneficial innovation.

Our project implementation roadmap spans from lab-based genetic engineering and enzyme validation (2025–2027), through animal studies (2027–2029), prototype development and partnerships (2028–2031), pre-clinical and clinical trials (2032–2035), and finally toward large-scale commercialization and global expansion (2027 and beyond). Educational campaigns via social media and community programs will be a routine for our team.