ForePass Replicates Effects of the Most Powerful and Invasive Bariatric Surgery While Dramatically Outperforming Leading GLP-1

Endoscopic, incision-free, and fully reversible metabolic platform positioned between GLP-1 drugs and metabolic surgery reproduced post-surgical insulin sensitivity in large-animal study

LONDON & ROME--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Keyron today announced publication in Gut, the highest-ranked gastroenterology journal globally (Impact Factor: 26.2), demonstrating that its ForePass endoscopic metabolic bypass platform reproduced insulin sensitivity levels observed following biliopancreatic diversion (BPD) while substantially outperforming semaglutide (Ozempic/Wegovy) in weight control in a randomized preclinical study.

Widely regarded as the most metabolically effective and invasive bariatric surgery ever developed, BPD has been associated with diabetes remission rates approaching ~80% and total body weight loss approaching ~40–50% in humans (SOARD, 2024). However, only ~1% of eligible patients undergo bariatric surgery due to its highly invasive nature (ASMBS/IFSO, 2024).

At the same time, 92% of patients receiving semaglutide fail to achieve even 15% weight loss (NEJM, 2021), despite patients with severe obesity and advanced metabolic disease often requiring substantially greater weight loss to achieve disease reversal (Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology, 2025).

ForePass produced profound improvements in insulin sensitivity and glucose regulation, with insulin sensitivity levels closely matching those previously observed following BPD surgery in humans and more than two-fold higher than in semaglutide-treated animals. During oral glucose tolerance testing, ForePass-treated animals demonstrated near-complete suppression of postprandial glucose excursions with substantially reduced insulin demand, consistent with restoration of insulin sensitivity.

ForePass also dramatically outperformed semaglutide in weight control, limiting weight gain by more than 8-fold versus semaglutide-treated animals (4.3% vs 36%) and more than 10-fold versus controls (4.3% vs 47%).

The study was led by Ivo Boskoski, MD, Professor of Digestive Endoscopy at Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore and one of Europe’s leading gastrointestinal endoscopists. “This study demonstrates that ForePass reproduced metabolic effects typically associated only with highly invasive metabolic surgery through a minimally invasive and fully reversible endoscopic approach,” said Prof. Boskoski. “The magnitude of the insulin sensitivity improvements and glycaemic control observed in this model is remarkable.”

Giorgio Castagneto Gissey, PhD, Founder and CEO of Keyron, said: “ForePass was designed around a central concept in metabolic disease biology that the upper intestine plays a major role in insulin resistance and glucose regulation. These findings support the possibility that metabolic effects previously achievable only through highly invasive surgery may soon be achieved through a scalable, fully reversible endoscopic procedure that avoids lifelong drug dependency.”

Geltrude Mingrone, Professor of Diabetes at King's College London, added: “For decades, BPD has demonstrated the metabolic impact of excluding the proximal intestine, but its invasiveness has limited adoption. ForePass is exciting because it seeks to reproduce these mechanisms through a minimally invasive, reversible endoscopic approach. The insulin-sensitivity improvements observed in this large-animal study support advancing toward human trials.”

The publication follows earlier peer-reviewed findings in Gut and Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism demonstrating significant metabolic improvements, enhanced insulin sensitivity, favorable microbiome changes, and superior weight control versus semaglutide in preclinical models.

Unlike bariatric surgery, ForePass is designed to be incision-free, fully reversible, and deployable through a short outpatient endoscopic procedure, potentially expanding access to surgery-level metabolic intervention for tens of millions of patients with severe obesity and metabolic disease too advanced for drugs and unwilling or unable to undergo major surgery.

Based on these findings, ForePass is advancing toward first-in-human clinical studies targeting severe obesity and metabolic disease.

About Keyron

Keyron is an endoscopic metabolic platform designed to reproduce key biological effects of metabolic surgery without incisions or permanent anatomical modification. Its lead product, ForePass®, is a minimally invasive, fully reversible treatment for patients with severe obesity and metabolic disease too advanced for drugs and unwilling or unable to undergo surgery.