KAPIGLUCAGON
Native Glucagon for Artificial Pancreas Technology
ImmuPharma is developing Kapiglucagon, a proprietary glucagon prodrug designed to overcome the instability of native glucagon. This innovation could enable dual-hormone artificial pancreas systems for fully automated glucose control.

Limitations of Current Soluble Glucagon Approaches
Over the past decade, several soluble glucagon products have reached the market and initially raised expectations that they could enable the development of dual-hormone artificial pancreas systems. However, these products have not convincingly addressed the needs of the artificial pancreas field. When comparing the number of dual-hormone artificial pancreas development programs active around 2013–2014 with those still actively pursued today, the decline is striking. Many programs have stalled or been discontinued, largely due to the lack of a reliable, stable, and safe glucagon formulation suitable for continuous subcutaneous infusion.
The main limitations stem from the intrinsic properties of current glucagon solutions. Native glucagon formulations remain chemically unstable in aqueous environments, with rapid aggregation and fibrillation that compromise long-term pump compatibility. Modified glucagon analogues such as dasiglucagon improve stability but introduce other challenges, including high formulation complexity, potential tolerability concerns at repeated micro-doses, and uncertain long-term exposure profiles when delivered continuously. Additionally, many existing rescue-oriented glucagon products were designed for single emergency injections rather than chronic micro-dosing through pump reservoirs, making them poorly suited to the operational constraints of closed-loop dual-hormone systems. As a result, despite technological advances in sensors and insulin delivery, the absence of a robust, pump-compatible glucagon formulation continues to represent one of the major bottlenecks preventing the widespread development and adoption of fully functional artificial pancreas systems.

Kapiglucagon: A Unique Prodrug Technology

Kapiglucagon is built on a novel prodrug technology specifically designed to overcome the fundamental physicochemical limitations of native glucagon. Rather than modifying the glucagon sequence itself, Kapiglucagon temporarily masks key structural elements of the peptide through a proprietary prodrug approach that dramatically improves aqueous solubility and formulation stability. In its formulated state, the molecule remains highly soluble and resistant to aggregation, enabling clean saline-based formulations compatible with pump reservoirs and continuous delivery systems. Following subcutaneous administration, the prodrug is designed to regenerate native glucagon in vivo, thereby preserving the natural pharmacological activity of the hormone while avoiding the instability associated with direct glucagon formulations. This approach uniquely combines the stability advantages of a prodrug with the physiological efficacy of native glucagon, positioning Kapiglucagon as a differentiated and potentially enabling technology for next-generation artificial pancreas systems and other glucagon-based therapeutic applications.
Kapiglucagon: A Fully Owned Strategic Asset
Kapiglucagon represents a fully proprietary asset owned by ImmuPharma, with 100% of the intellectual property held by the company. The molecule was conceived and developed internally by ImmuPharma’s R&D team, leveraging the company’s long-standing expertise in peptide science and autoimmune biology. This internal innovation provides ImmuPharma with complete strategic flexibility across development, partnering, and commercialization pathways. Positioned as a next-generation glucagon prodrug designed to overcome the formulation limitations of native glucagon, Kapiglucagon offers strong potential as a key enabling component for dual-hormone artificial pancreas systems.
