BioAge Labs Completes $170 Million Series D

<p><strong>RICHMOND&comma; CA<&sol;strong> &&num;8212&semi; BioAge Labs&comma; a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing novel therapies for obesity and metabolic diseases by harnessing the biology of aging&comma; has completed an oversubscribed Series D financing round of &dollar;170 million led by Sofinnova Investments&period; New investors including Longitude Capital&comma; RA Capital&comma; Cormorant Asset Management&comma; RTW Investments&comma; SV Health Investors&comma; OrbiMed Advisors&comma; Sands Capital&comma; Pivotal bioVenture Partners&comma; Osage University Partners&comma; Lilly Ventures&comma; and Amgen Ventures also participated in the round alongside existing investors including Andreessen Horowitz &lpar;a16z&rpar; Bio &plus; Health&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In connection with the financing&comma; James Healy&comma; M&period;D&period;&comma; Ph&period;D&period;&comma; managing partner at Sofinnova Investments&comma; will join BioAge as Chairman of the Board&comma; and Patrick Enright&comma; managing director at Longitude Capital&comma; will join as Board Director&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The funding will be used to support Phase 2 clinical development of BioAge’s lead compound azelaprag&comma; an oral apelin receptor agonist&comma; in combination with Lilly’s Zepbound &lpar;tirzepatide&rpar; and other incretins for treatment of obesity&period; The studies with Zepbound are expected to begin in mid-2024&comma; in collaboration with Eli Lilly’s Chorus organization&period; Azelaprag is an oral drug with the potential to significantly increase weight loss and improve body composition when combined with any incretin&period; In a Phase 1b trial&comma; azelaprag promoted muscle metabolism&comma; increased energy expenditure&comma; and prevented muscle atrophy in healthy older volunteers at bedrest&period; In preclinical studies&comma; azelaprag doubled the weight loss achieved on incretin drugs with improvements in body composition and muscle function&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;We’re thrilled to partner with a top-tier syndicate of investors and pharma companies at the forefront of developing novel therapeutics for metabolic diseases&comma;” said Kristen Fortney&comma; Ph&period;D&period;&comma; CEO and co-founder of BioAge&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;This funding will support us through key clinical milestones and data readouts for our lead compound azelaprag in obesity&comma; as well as advance our earlier-stage metabolic aging pipeline&period; The azelaprag program highlights our discovery platform’s ability to identify novel approaches to treating metabolic disease&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;We’re excited to support BioAge’s commitment to develop potentially life-changing therapies that improve patient lives in obesity and other metabolic diseases&comma;” said Dr&period; Healy&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;The BioAge management team has laid very important scientific and clinical groundwork for the azelaprag program&comma; and we look forward to working with the team to advance its clinical programs&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;