Pre-seed · Computational Discovery

AI-designed peptide drugs for canine obesity.

54 million dogs are overweight. Zero approved treatments exist. Treat builds canine-specific therapeutics using computational protein design — not repurposed human drugs.

Happy Golden Retriever \u2014 the kind of dog Treat Biosciences is designed to help

The Problem

The biggest unmet need in veterinary medicine.

60%
of U.S. dogs

are overweight or obese — 54 million animals. Excess weight shortens lifespan by 2.5 years and drives chronic disease.

Zero
approved drugs

No FDA-approved canine weight loss drug exists. The last one, Slentrol, was pulled from the market in 2010.

$63.6B
addressable market

54 million overweight dogs at $1,200/year in treatment value. No commercial entrant has captured any of it.

Discovery Engine

Computational biology. Hundreds of candidates before a single molecule is synthesized.

Treat uses frontier AI and structural biology to design peptide candidates in silico, predict binding affinity at canine receptors, and optimize for species-specific pharmacology. This compresses timelines, reduces capital requirements, and generates a defensible pipeline of purpose-built molecules.

Structure-first design

Every candidate is modeled against canine receptor biology before synthesis. No trial-and-error screening.

AI compute, not bench iteration

Thousands of design cycles in parallel on GPU clusters. Months of wet-lab work compressed into days of simulation.

Purpose-built, not repurposed

Not human drugs repackaged for dogs. Canine pharmacokinetics and receptor divergence inform every design decision.

GLP-1R + incretin agonist Click + drag

Why Canine-Specific

The same receptors. Different enough to matter.

GLP-1R — Appetite Control
100%
Low Risk

All 13 validated binding contacts are identical between human and canine GLP-1R.

GIPR — Metabolic Signaling
63.6%
Optimization Target

ECL1 loop diverges at 4 of 11 positions. This is the primary design challenge — and our core inventive step.

GCGR — Fat Oxidation
95.7%
Low Risk

22 of 23 contact residues conserved. Canine glucagon is 100% identical to human.

Human GLP-1 drugs already cause weight loss in dogs (Dik et al. 2025). But GIPR diverges enough at the binding interface to require species-specific engineering. This is why Treat doesn't repurpose human drugs — and why our canine-optimized peptides represent a genuine invention with strong patent position.

Thesis

Human GLP-1 drugs proved the category. Treat builds the canine version.

Semaglutide and retatrutide created a $100B+ human obesity market. The same receptor biology exists in dogs. Treat is the first company building a canine-specific peptide platform to capture that opportunity.

Generation 1
GLP-1
Semaglutide (Wegovy)
15–17%
body weight loss
Generation 2
GLP-1 + GIP
Tirzepatide (Zepbound)
20–25%
body weight loss
Generation 3
GLP-1 + GIP + GCGR
RetatrutideTRT-001
24–28%
body weight loss

Zero direct competitors in canine incretin agonists.

No pharma or biotech company has a commercial canine GLP-1, dual, or triple incretin program. Treat is first to market.

Pipeline

Three programs. Fat loss, muscle preservation, body recomposition.

Discovery
Lead Optimization
Preclinical
Clinical
Cond. Approval
TRT-002, 003
TRT-001
TRT-002
Mini-protein antagonist of Activin Receptor IIA/B

AI-designed mini-protein blocking ActRIIA/B signaling to preserve lean muscle mass during incretin-driven weight loss.

Indication: Lean-mass preservation

Discovery
TRT-003
Combination program

Pairs TRT-001 metabolic fat loss with TRT-002 muscle-support biology for full body recomposition.

Indication: Body recomposition

Discovery

Conditional Approval Pathway (FDA CVM / CNADA)

Treat can begin selling while completing full efficacy studies — dramatically faster and cheaper than the traditional FDA path for human drugs.

~21 mo
to first revenue
$2–5M
total to market
70×
more capital efficient

Leadership

Built by scientists with translational and therapeutic development experience.

David Kingsley, PhD
David Kingsley, PhD
Cofounder & Chief Scientific Officer

Computational biologist with experience in translational biology and therapeutic design at Colossal Biosciences. Designed Treat's peptide platform and discovery workflow.

Colossal Biosciences Duke Health Rensselaer Locus Biosciences
Frank Gillam, PhD, MBA
Frank Gillam, PhD, MBA
Cofounder & Chief Executive Officer

Biomanufacturing and commercial leader. Built and scaled GMP peptide manufacturing at Locus Biosciences; prior roles at Grifols and Exela Pharma Sciences.

NC State Duke Fuqua Virginia Tech Locus Biosciences Grifols

Contact

Partner with Treat Biosciences.

For investor conversations, veterinary pharma partnerships, or scientific collaboration.