Alveus Therapeutics has debuted with $160m in Series A financing, as the biotech looks to join the crowded obesity sector with its amylin-based pipeline.
The Series A was led by New Rhein Healthcare Investors, Andera Partners, and Omega Funds, with participation from Sanofi Capital, Kurma Partners, Avego BioScience Capital, and other healthcare investors.
Go deeper with GlobalData
Discover B2B Marketing That Performs
Combine business intelligence and editorial excellence to reach engaged professionals across 36 leading media platforms.
In its unveiling announcement, Alveus’ CEO Raj Kannan highlighted what he believes is the main limitation with currently approved weight loss therapies.
“Obesity is one of the fastest-growing global healthcare challenges, and today’s therapies leave patients struggling to maintain weight loss over time,” Kannan said.
Alveus’ lead candidate is ALV-100, a bifunctional glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide receptor (GIPR) antagonist / glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist (GLP-1RA) fusion protein, that the biotech says could deliver durable weight loss and maintenance with improvements over current therapies. Alveus said that proceeds from the $160m Series A will fund Phase II clinical development of ALV-100.
Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk currently dominate the weight loss market with tirzepatide and semaglutide products. While Lilly’s brands have generated higher sales over the past year, Novo became the first company to gain US approval of an oral GLP-1RA approved for weight loss in December 2025. Data on these drugs suggests that long-term efficacy is good, though research suggests many patients reach a plateau after a year or two.
US Tariffs are shifting - will you react or anticipate?
Don’t let policy changes catch you off guard. Stay proactive with real-time data and expert analysis.
By GlobalDataFormer cardiometabolic therapy heads from both Lilly and Novo have joined Alveus’ leadership team. Brian Bloomquist, former VP of diabetes, obesity and complications external innovation at Eli Lilly, joins as the new company’s chief business and strategy officer. Jacob Jeppesen, who formerly worked as VP and therapy area head for type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease research at Novo Nordisk, enlists as chief scientific officer and head of R&D at Alveus.
Alveus’ early portfolio, which spans injectable and oral modalities, is based on amylin biology. Amylin is a peptide hormone secreted alongside insulin after eating. The biotech’s other disclosed product, ALV-200, is an amylin receptor 3 (AMYR3) peptide agonist that has entered the investigational new drug (IND)-enabling stage. Alveus’s amylin portfolio also includes other undisclosed targets. Alongside funding ALV-100’s Phase II activities, the Series A will also support IND filings of several early candidates, according to Alveus.
Kannan added: “ALV-100 and our amylin-based pipeline are being developed to deliver durable efficacy with infrequent dosing, improved tolerability, and meaningfully better body-composition outcomes. With world-class investors and a team that has repeatedly brought metabolic medicines from concept to commercialisation, Alveus is well positioned to lead the next wave of innovation in obesity therapeutics.”
