Metsera – a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company accelerating the next generation of medicines for obesity and metabolic diseases – announced the closing of a $215 million Series B funding round to further advance its portfolio of highly differentiated, clinical-stage, Nutrient-Stimulated Hormone (NuSH) analog peptides. Wellington Management and Venrock Healthcare Capital Partners led the financing, with participation from new investors including Fidelity Management & Research Company, Janus Henderson Investors, funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates and by T. Rowe Price Investment Management, Viking Global Investors, Deep Track Capital, and RA Capital Management. Existing Metsera investors participated, including ARCH Venture Partners, Alpha Wave Ventures, GV, SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Newpath Partners, SymBiosis, and other undisclosed investors. Metsera has raised over $500 million to date.
Metsera recently reported significant and durable weight loss from the Phase 1/2 trial of MET-097i, which is a novel, fully-biased, potential once-monthly injectable GLP-1 RA engineered with Metsera’s HALO lipidation platform. MET-097i showed a 7.5% reduction in body weight from baseline at day 36 and a 380-hour half-life.
After this positive clinical data, Metsera initiated a randomized, 16-week Phase 2 trial of MET-097i in participants with obesity and overweight, with preliminary data expected in the first half of 2025. A 13-week randomized extension of the previously announced Phase 1/2 trial is also underway. If these trials are successful, Metsera expects to initiate Phase 3 trials of MET-097i shortly thereafter.
Metsera has also initiated a single and multiple ascending dose clinical trial of MET-233i, an ultra-long acting injectable amylin analog designed for potential once-monthly dosing, in participants with obesity and overweight. And MET-233i is the first of multiple next-generation NuSH analog peptides designed for combination and co-formulation with MET-097i, with matched solubility parameters and half-life. MET-233i and Metsera’s other next-generation NuSH analog peptides are also engineered with Metsera’s HALO lipidation platform.
Metsera also initiated a clinical trial of MET-002, an oral GLP-1 RA peptide. Metsera has developed its proprietary MOMENTUM platform to optimize oral delivery of NuSH analog peptides and is advancing multiple GLP-1 RA peptides with potential best-in-class bioavailability, and multiple potential first-in-class oral follow-on candidates targeting other NuSH pathways, to be developed alone and/or in combination with other NuSH analog peptides.
Metsera continues advancing multiple candidates from its proprietary peptide library, built upon approximately 20,000 NuSH analog peptides and developed through twenty years of empirical biological research and advanced peptide engineering. These candidates include MET-034i, an ultra-long-acting, HALO lipidated GIP RA, and candidates targeting other complementary NuSH pathways, including glucagon and PYY and unimolecular multi-NuSH combinations. Metsera is also studying combinations of these candidates.
KEY QUOTES:
“We are excited to join a great investor syndicate to support Metsera’s differentiated portfolio of products for obesity.”
– Nilesh Kumar, Head of Biotech Private Investments at Wellington Management
“With an impressive management team, industry-leading peptide engineering capabilities, scaled manufacturing, and expert clinical execution, Metsera is positioned for significant value creation.”
– Nimish Shah, Partner at Venrock
“We are delighted to welcome our new Series B investors and thank existing investors for their continued support. Building on over twenty years of research, in the past two years Metsera has constructed a leading portfolio, initiated a large-scale manufacturing partnership, and assembled a high-performing, agile team. We now have three medicines in the clinic with more to come, based on a best-in-class half-life extension technology and a potential best-in-class oral peptide delivery platform. We look forward to continued acceleration of our pipeline.”
– Whit Bernard, Chief Executive Officer of Metsera
