Firm faucets into Pfizer’s Boulder workforce because it targets weight problems and metabolic issues through incretins and different class B GPCRs.
Biotech startup Ambrosia Biosciences (no, not that Ambrosia) has emerged with a $16 million Sequence A financing to develop new remedies for weight problems and metabolic issues. Whereas data on the corporate’s method is proscribed, its preliminary plan is to “uncover and develop novel orally delivered, small molecule-based therapies focusing on incretins and different class B GPCRs.”
Incretins and G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) play a central position in regulating metabolic processes, together with glucose and power stability, that are important within the improvement and development of weight problems. In all probability probably the most well-known class B GPCR is glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1), which has gained appreciable consideration for its position in weight administration and diabetes prevention (and potentially many other conditions).
Following the success of medication that inhibit GLP-1, equivalent to semaglutide (Ozempic/Wegovy), Ambrosia seems to be the newest participant to enter the GPCR area.
“Whereas this can be a very lively area, there may be important science but to be understood and loads of alternative to enhance upon current GLP-1 primarily based medicine,” stated Nick Traggis, president and Founding father of Ambrosia, in a press release.
The brand new funding was led by BVF Companions and Boulder Ventures and can be used to scale up Ambrosia’s drug discovery packages and laboratory operations in Colorado. The corporate seems to have taken benefit of the latest closure of Pfizer’s R&D facility in Boulder – the pharma big moved into town in 2019 when it acquired Array BioPharma however introduced that it was shuttering its operations earlier this 12 months.
“Array BioPharma was among the many greatest small molecule drug discovery groups on the planet,” stated Boulder Ventures’ Kyle Lefkoff, who additionally serves as govt chairman of Ambrosia. “With the latest shut down of the Pfizer/Array R&D facility right here in Boulder, now we have re-assembled the Array medicinal chemistry workforce at Ambrosia to use that very same experience to weight problems.”
