Obesity startup Verdiva, seeing opportunity in a crowded market, raises $400M Series A

LONDON — An obesity-focused startup unveiled Thursday announced it had raised a whopping $411 million Series A round, the latest reflection of just how lucrative investors think the weight loss market will continue to be.

The new company, called Verdiva Bio, did not develop its own pipeline, but rather licensed its collection of compounds from the Chinese firm Sciwind Biosciences. A number of biopharmas have looked to Chinese companies to build up their portfolios of experimental obesity medications, including Merck and AstraZeneca.

Verdiva has a once-weekly oral GLP-1 treatment that it plans to test in a Phase 2 trial starting this year. It also has oral and subcutaneous drug candidates focused on another target called amylin. The company envisions that its drugs could be used in combination.

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