Funding
The multi-drug partnership with Orbis Medicines—which Novo Holdings has backed since the biotech’s seed rounds—is focused on cardiometabolic targets, but the technology at the center of the deal could deliver oral weight loss candidates. Obesity rival Eli Lilly has also helped fund Orbis.
Sling Therapeutics is advancing the first late-stage oral drug for thyroid eye disease that, if approved, could compete against Amgen and Viridian Therapeutics.
BioSpace is launching an IPO dashboard to help the industry keep tabs on U.S. biotechs that have taken the public plunge in 2026.
Frazier’s life science fund has already benefited several successful biotechs, including Verona Pharma, which was acquired by Merck for $10 billion, and Carmot Therapeutics, which Roche bought for $2.7 billion.
Encoded Therapeutics’ lead asset ETX101 is a gene therapy being tested for Dravet syndrome. Phase 1/2 data showed substantial reductions in seizures.
Solstice Oncology, founded in February, is emerging from stealth having already secured an investigational new drug application from the FDA for a Phase 2 trial of a CTLA-4 antibody purchased from China’s Harbour BioMed.
Kura Oncology has spun out Caspian around KO-7246, which seeks to increase the number and activity of beta cells in the pancreas, in turn boosting insulin production in patients with diabetes.
Biotech crossover rounds could top $4.22 billion across about 28 rounds this year, PitchBook forecasts.
Moonwalk Biosciences plans to shepherd its lead obesity asset into first-in-human trials in late 2027. In preclinical studies, MW101 has demonstrated weight loss and fat reduction while maintaining muscle mass.
BrainChild Bio’s lead asset BCB-276 is in pivotal development for diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma, a rare and fatal brain tumor that affects around 300 children in the U.S. every year.
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