London-headquartered biotech startup Verdiva has emerged from stealth with a whopping $410mn for a new range of drugs aimed at tackling the obesity epidemic. It’s one of Europe’s largest-ever biotech VC deals, signalling investor appetite for the booming weight loss market.
Verdiva looks to challenge the dominance of Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly, the makers of the two most popular weight loss drugs, Ozempic and Wegovy. The company promises to offer less invasive pills, instead of injectables. Its most advanced product is an oral-based GLP-1, a drug that curbs hunger.
Verdiva was founded in July 2024 by executives of Aiolos Bio, the biotech sold to GSK last year for $1.4bn. The fledgling company is not developing its therapies from scratch. It has acquired the rights to a suite of weight loss drugs from Chinese firm Sciwind Biosciences.
Verdiva’s CEO Khurem Farooq, formerly the chief executive of Aiolos Bio, said that current weight loss drugs leave “significant medical needs” unmet.
“People living with obesity and its complications deserve better options at each stage of their treatment journey,” said Farooq. “Our most mature program has the potential to be a first-in-class, once-weekly oral treatment for obesity and weight loss maintenance that could dramatically improve patient access and affordability.”
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General Atlantic and Dutch biotech VC Forbion led the Series A round, which comes amid a surge in demand for anti-obesity meds. Global spending on these drugs surpassed $30bn for the first time in 2024. By one estimate, the GLP-1 drug market could reach more than $200bnin annual sales by 2031.
The meteoric rise in weight loss drugs correlates with rising levels of obesity globally. In the US, where over 40% of the adult population is obese, one-in-eight people report having used a drug like Wegovy and Ozempic at least once. Even Elon Musk admitted to taking Ozempic. Usage is lower in Europe, which experiences lower rates of obesity, but sales, particularly of Wegovy, are skyrocketing. However, some patients have experienced worrying side effects.
Whether Verdiva’s new treatments are a better alternative to the status quo remains to be seen. The company says its GLP-1 drug has completed phase one trials and is ready for phase two — where the drug is tested on a larger number of people. But it still has to go through phase three trials as well, which can take years. Only after completing all three trials can a drug hit the shelves. Most medications never make it out of the clinical testing stage.
However, that uncertainty clearly isn’t deterring investors. Last year alone also saw a couple of big rounds in this space, including California-headquartered BioAge Labs’ $170mn Series D round and New York-based Metsera’s $350mn raise. In 2024, VCs invested more than $1.2bn in weight loss startups, the second-highest level ever.