An eye-popping amount of money is backing a bold plan to launch a new company right into the middle of the heated obesity and metabolic disorder therapeutic space, as Kailera Therapeutics launched on 1 October with $400m in series A funding and a pipeline of four GLP-1 agonist-anchored assets, including a dual agonist ready for Phase III.
Kailera’s $400m Series A Round Funds Ambitious Obesity Plans
A new contender emerges in obesity with pipeline assets from Jiangsu Hengrui, including a Phase III dual agonist, and an experienced team already focused on commercial hurdles.
More from Strategy
• By
The firm has lofty ambitions for the aldosterone synthase inhibitor to treat hypertension and kidney disease.
• By
Supply chain disruption fears at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic caused drug over-ordering. Imminent tariffs on drugs may have had a similar effect on pharma sales in Q1 earnings season.
• By
Stock prices plummeted, particularly for vaccine makers and cell and gene therapy developers, after the US FDA’s top biologics overseer resigned over vaccine misinformation concerns.
• By
Seeking cell therapy approaches to cure type 1 diabetes, Vertex abandons a candidate encapsulated to avoid immune system detection but hopes to file another candidate for approval in 2026.
More from Business
• By
The four-year-old firm said it plans to advance programs toward the clinic from the funding round, which comes just over a year after signing two major pharma partnerships.
• By
A Phase III trial testing the cortisol modulator showed a benefit on PFS and OS in patients with platinum-resistant ovarian cancer.
• By
Senior executives from AstraZeneca, BMS, Novo Nordisk, Takeda and Regeneron outline how big pharma's global capability centers (GCCs) in India are evolving beyond cost efficiency, focusing on innovation, “agile experimentation” and new technology including GenAI, virtual & augmented reality, with some positioned as COEs. Will Indian multinationals use the GCC approach?