MetaVia appoints Sarah Browne as chief medical officer

MetaVia Inc. (Nasdaq: MTVA) announced on October 13, 2026 that it has appointed Sarah Browne, M.D., as Chief Medical Officer, effective October 12, 2026. The company says Browne brings more than 20 years of experience across clinical development, regulatory science and clinical medicine, with particular expertise in liver and metabolic diseases, including metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH).

Her background

Browne most recently served as a Clinical Development Consultant to Soufflé Therapeutics, where she supported clinical development planning and regulatory strategy. Before that she was Vice President of Clinical Development at Altimmune, Inc., having first joined the company as Senior Director of Clinical Development. At Altimmune she led clinical development programs in obesity, metabolic and liver diseases. That work included the advancement of pemvidutide, a dual GLP-1 and glucagon receptor agonist, from first-in-human studies through Phase 2 and a successful End-of-Phase 2 meeting with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). She also established the company's pharmacovigilance and medical affairs functions.

Earlier, Browne held positions of increasing responsibility at the FDA's Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER), most recently as Senior Advisor for Clinical Review. She was an Assistant Clinical Investigator and attending physician at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and an attending physician at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center. She has authored or co-authored more than 40 peer-reviewed publications and book chapters.

Role in the pipeline

The release quotes Hyung Heon Kim, President and Chief Executive Officer of MetaVia, who said Browne's experience "will be invaluable as we plan the next stages of development for DA-1726." Kim said the company is preparing for the topline readout from Part 3 of the Phase 1 trial of DA-1726, which evaluates higher target doses of 48 mg and 64 mg, in the fourth quarter of 2026.

Browne said in the release that MetaVia is approaching a key inflection point in the development of DA-1726. Her experience developing therapies for obesity and liver disease, including dual GLP-1 and glucagon receptor agonists, aligns closely with the company's clinical programs. She said she would help evaluate the upcoming Phase 1 Part 3 results, help shape the next stages of development for DA-1726 and advance vanoglipel (DA-1241) for the treatment of MASH.

About MetaVia

MetaVia Inc. is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and describes itself as a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on transforming cardiometabolic diseases. The release says the company is developing DA-1726 for treatment across multiple cardiometabolic indications, and vanoglipel (DA-1241) for MASH. It describes vanoglipel as a potential first-in-class drug candidate targeting GPR119, with hepatic benefits in preclinical studies that reduce hepatic steatosis, hepatic inflammation and liver fibrosis. The release does not discuss the terms of Browne's appointment.

The DA-1726 program

Kim said her experience leading the clinical development of pemvidutide through Phase 2 and establishing Phase 3 development strategies would help as the company plans the next stages for DA-1726. The release describes DA-1726 as a novel oxyntomodulin analogue that works as a dual agonist of the GLP-1 and glucagon receptors. It says that in a Phase 1 multiple ascending dose trial, DA-1726 showed encouraging liver-related findings, including improvements in noninvasive measures of hepatic steatosis and liver stiffness. The release gives no numbers for those findings.

The annual report says Part 3a of the Phase 1 trial uses a one-step titration with 16 mg for four weeks and then 48 mg for 12 weeks, and Part 3b uses a two-step titration with 16 mg for four weeks, 32 mg for four weeks and 64 mg for eight weeks. It gives the fourth quarter of 2026 as the planned readout for both parts, and says the studies aim to remove moderate adverse effects seen at the 48 mg dose level. Pemvidutide was Altimmune's program, and the release does not link its results to DA-1726. It says nothing about the company's cash.

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