Verdiva Bio funding news -Cardiometabolic Company Verdiva Bio Launches with Over $410M in Series A Funding

The Company is advancing a portfolio of next-generation oral and injectable treatments with first-in-class or best-in-class potential. Verdiva launches with an oversubscribed Series A financing of $411M, co-led by Forbion and General Atlantic, with additional participation from RA Capital Management, OrbiMed, Logos Capital, Lilly Asia Ventures, and LYFE Capital (collectively, “the Investor Group”).

Khurem Farooq, formerly the CEO of Aiolos Bio and Gyroscope Therapeutics, will serve as Chief Executive Officer leading an experienced team of drug developers and biotech company builders. “People living with obesity and its complications deserve better options at each stage of their treatment journey, including oral therapies with less frequent dosing regimens, the potential for improved efficacy and tolerability, and innovative combination therapies in pursuit of healthier weight loss and, equally importantly, maintenance of metabolically healthy weight. We created Verdiva Bio to accelerate the development of differentiated medicines that address these significant unmet medical needs,”.

Addressing Verdiva’s lead asset, Farooq noted, “Our most mature program has the potential to be a first-in-class, once-weekly oral treatment for obesity and weight loss maintenance that could dramatically improve patient access and affordability.”

Senior leadership team

Dr. Mohamed Eid, MD, MSc, MHA joins Verdiva Bio as Chief Medical Officer from Boehringer Ingelheim, where he was Head of Clinical Development and Medical Affairs for cardiovascular, kidney, and metabolic medicines in the US. Previously, Dr. Eid held senior clinical, medical, and regulatory roles at Novo Nordisk.

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Dr. Eid notes, “We are excited by the potential of our innovative, investigational medicines. These programs represent next-generation potential against multiple targets and are anticipated to improve treatment adherence and offer a more sustainable solution for maintaining weight loss. Furthermore, by applying our clinically validated, oral delivery technology, we are confident that we can deliver highly efficacious and well tolerated therapies at markedly lower doses.”

In addition, the Company announced the appointment of several other leadership positions, including:

• Dr. Jane Hughes, Chief Scientific Officer, formerly CSO of Aiolos Bio and Gyroscope Therapeutics.
• Dr. Tapan Maniar, Chief Business Officer, formerly CBO of Aiolos Bio and Principal at Bain Capital Life Sciences.
• Ashley Taylor, Chief Technology Officer, formerly CTO of Aiolos Bio and Head of Network Strategy at Roche/Genentech.

In conjunction with the Company’s launch, Mark Pruzanski was named Chairman of the Board. A physician and entrepreneur with over 30 years of life sciences experience, Dr. Pruzanski previously served as Chairman and CEO of Versanis Bio (acquired by Eli Lilly) and was the founder and CEO of Intercept Pharmaceuticals.

Dr. Pruzanski said, “This significant Series A financing will be used to progress the clinical development of our existing assets as well as to expand our industry-leading cardiometabolic portfolio, and we are grateful to this top-tier investor syndicate for their support,".

Substantial Series A financing

The Series A financing was co-led by Forbion and General Atlantic. “We are thrilled to colead Verdiva’s Series A financing and support its mission of transforming lives by accelerating innovation in cardiometabolic health,” said Wouter Joustra, General Partner at Forbion, and Brett Zbar, Managing Director and Global Head of Life Sciences at General Atlantic. “With a proven leadership team, a pipeline of potential next-generation oral therapies, and a clear vision for tackling some of the most pressing global health challenges, we both believe Verdiva Bio is well-positioned to deliver groundbreaking innovations and advance these promising therapies through clinical development and beyond.”

About Verdiva Bio

Verdiva Bio is committed to developing next-generation therapies to help people living with obesity, cardiometabolic disorders, and related complications achieve better outcomes via more patient-friendly therapeutic options. Verdiva’s most advanced therapy is VRB-101, an oral GLP-1 peptide in clinical development that has demonstrated best-in-class efficacy potential in a phase 1 study in Australia, which also confirmed the viability of once-weekly dosing.