Helicore Debuts With $65m, Plans For GIP Antagonism In Obesity

Backed by Versant Ventures, Helicore will pursue optimized therapy for underserved obesity patients with an antibody that directly antagonizes GIP and plans for antibody conjugate therapies.

Versant Ventures backs Helicore to compete in the already busy obesity arena (Shutterstock)

Another company joined the burgeoning obesity therapy space on 28 January, as Versant Ventures-backed Helicore Biopharma unveiled a $65m series A financing and initial plans to take a first-in-class direct-acting GIP antagonist into clinical development. The South San Francisco, CA-based firm said that unlike other drugs that act on the GIP receptor, HCR-188 binds the GIP ligand directly, which could offer strong efficacy and better tolerability, and it will target areas of the obesity market that are not adequately served at present.

Key Takeaways
  • Helicore will start out with $65m in venture funding and a Phase I GIP antagonist that it thinks could offer better therapeutic benefit for obesity subpopulations.
  • The firm is taking GIP ligand antagonist HCR-188, obtained from bankrupt 9 Meters Biopharma, into Phase I as possible add-on or maintenance therapy in obesity

While Lilly’s blockbuster tirzepatide (Mounjaro for type 2 diabetes, Zepbound for obesity) is a dual GLP-1/GIP agonist, Helicore board member Carlo Rizzuto, a managing director at Versant, told Scrip that GIP antagonism is a clinically validated mechanism that may provide strong fat-reducing efficacy and possibly help to offset the

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