Not long after reporting phase 2 data for one of its obesity candidates that appeared to put it on par with Eli Lilly’s Zepbound, Kailera Therapeutics is preparing for an eventual market launch with a new commercial leader.

The biotech has named Jamie Coleman its chief commercial officer, per a Monday announcement, putting her in charge of the overall commercial strategy for Kailera’s pipeline of GLP-1 candidates to treat obesity and related conditions.

Coleman most recently spent nearly two decades at Lilly. Her tenure there spanned marketing roles of increasing responsibility across the diabetes and oncology teams, including stints as U.S. brand leader first for Trulicity and then for Lilly’s obesity portfolio. In her final two years there, beginning in early 2023, she served as vice president of brand marketing for Zepbound, during which time she oversaw the accelerated launch of the obesity drug that began in late 2023.

“Obesity is one of the most urgent health challenges of our time, and I’m passionate about leveraging my experience in building brands, driving cross-functional collaboration, and delivering impactful results to ultimately improve the lives of people living with obesity,” Coleman said in the announcement. “I share the team’s commitment to patient-centered solutions and I’m excited to contribute to advancing Kailera’s broad pipeline of potentially best-in-class therapies.”

Kailera, which is based in both Boston and San Diego, emerged from stealth last fall armed with $400 million in series A funding and the ex-China rights to four drug candidates from Jiangsu Hengrui Pharmaceuticals in hand.

The pipeline includes an oral small molecule GLP-1 receptor agonist, a once-daily oral GLP-1/GIP receptor dual agonist and an injectable GLP-1/GIP/glucagon receptor tri-agonist, as well as the aforementioned lead candidate, KAI-9531, an injectable GLP-1/GIP receptor dual agonist.

Kailera unveiled the Zepbound-matching phase 2 data for KAI-9531 at the start of this year. As Fierce Biotech noted at the time, Zepbound—also a dual GIP and GLP-1 receptor agonist—showed weight loss of 20.9% after 36 weeks; KAI-9531, meanwhile, resulted in placebo-adjusted weight loss of 21.1% after 36 weeks.

Kailera CEO Ron Renaud reiterated in this week’s announcement that the company is in the process of progressing KAI-9531 “toward a global Phase 3 clinical program.”