A weight loss drug maker is aiming for a big IPO
BioAge Labs, a biopharmaceutical startup focused on obesity drugs, is looking to raise nearly $200 million in its recently expanded, planned initial public offering, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
The Richmond, California-based company said on Wednesday that it plans to offer 10.5 million shares between $17 and $19 each. BioAge previously planned to only offer 7.5 million shares at the same price range.
The updated SEC filing comes amid a surge of investor interest in a new class of weight loss medications known as GLP-1s. These drugs, which mimic a hormone that regulates appetite and blood sugar, have shown remarkable effectiveness in treating obesity and type 2 diabetes.
Market leaders Novo Nordisk (NVO) and Eli Lilly (LLY), the pharmaceutical giants behind popular GLP-1 drugs Wegovy and Zepbound, have seen their stock prices soar as a result. Over the past 12 months, Novo Nordisk’s stock has climbed 39%, while Eli Lilly’s has surged 68%.
These gains reflect investors’ bullish outlook on the future of the obesity drug market. Morgan Stanley (MS) analysts anticipate the global market for GLP-1 drugs will reach $105 billion by 2030.
BioAge is now trying to get in on the action. In its filing, the company said it is targeting obesity and diabetes drugs due to their “high prevalence and resulting potential for impact on population health” and “outsized commercial opportunities.”
BioAge’s leading drug candidate is azelaprag, a pill that mimics apelin, a peptide released during exercise that decreases with age.
Early clinical trial results suggest that taking azelaprag along with an injectable weight loss drug results in increased weight loss and prevents muscle mass loss, a side-effect of current weight loss drugs.
BioAge started a phase 2 clinical trial this year of azelaprag in combination with tirzepatide, the active ingredient in Eli Lilly’s Zepbound. The company plans to start a second phase 2 trial of the drug next year to see how it works with semaglutide, the drug behind Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy and Ozempic.
BioAge’s upcoming IPO comes just months after it raised $170 million in financing this past February.
The race for next-gen weight loss drugs
BioAge isn’t the only company working to disrupt the weight loss drug duopoly dominated by Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly. Surging demand for weight loss medications has transformed the two pharmaceutical developers into some of the world’s most valuable companies — potentially paving the way for the first $1 trillion pharma firms.
Now several drug makers are racing to develop their own weight loss competitors. Viking Therapeutics is developing both a weight loss injection and a pill while large pharma companies like Roche and Pfizer are also working on their own anti-obesity drugs.
