A London-based company specializing in obesity drugs has successfully raised $411 million, marking one of the largest Series A funding rounds in Europe’s biopharma sector.

Verdiva Bio received support from Dutch investor Forbion and U.S. private equity firm General Atlantic, who led the funding effort. This announcement aligns with the upcoming JP Morgan healthcare conference, a significant event in the industry.

Previously, Verdiva obtained global development and commercialization rights — excluding China and South Korea — to a range of weight loss assets from Zhejiang’s Sciwind Biosciences.

Khurem Farooq, who has a background with Aiolos Bio, a San Francisco-based respiratory drug company acquired by GSK last year for nearly $1.4 billion, leads Verdiva. Aiolos Bio had also obtained an asthma medication from China shortly before securing a substantial $245 million in Series A financing, which was also backed by Forbion before its acquisition by GSK.

Verdiva enters a rapidly expanding market for weight loss drugs, dominated by Novo Nordisk’s injections from Denmark and the U.S. pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly.

Market analysts project that this innovative sector could reach a valuation of up to $150 billion by the early 2030s, prompting numerous companies to race towards developing next-generation therapies.

Both Wegovy from Novo and Zepbound from Eli Lilly have faced challenges in meeting increasing demand, leading to fierce competition for the development of oral treatments that require less frequent dosing and boast improved efficacy while minimizing muscle loss.

Verdiva holds rights to a variety of oral and injectable therapies and aims to create both monotherapy and combination strategies.

Included in their portfolio is a Phase 2-ready, once-weekly oral glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonist, designed to decrease hunger by targeting receptors in the gastrointestinal tract, similar to Wegovy.

The firm also aims to develop an early-stage, once-weekly oral treatment that targets the pancreatic hormone amylin, which can be used alone or in conjunction with an oral GLP-1 agonist.

Farooq stated that Verdiva’s primary asset has the potential to significantly enhance patient access and affordability.

Verdiva’s leadership team includes executives from Aiolos. Mohamed Eid, previously with Novo, has joined as the chief medical officer.

He remarked, “These programs represent next-generation potential against multiple targets and are expected to enhance treatment adherence while offering a more sustainable approach to weight management.”

With a workforce of 35 in both London and the San Francisco Bay Area, Verdiva’s oversubscribed $411 million funding round also saw contributions from Eli Lilly’s Lilly Asia Ventures, RA Capital Management, OrbiMed, Logos Capital, and LYFE Capital.

Notable Biotech Expert

Khurem Farooq has garnered attention as a proactive dealmaker after his extensive career in major pharmaceutical companies (as noted by Alex Ralph).

A graduate of Aston University and the University of Wolverhampton, Farooq has raised a total of $656 million for two different biotech ventures over the past two years.

Following GSK’s recent acquisition of his last company, Aiolos Bio, for an initial $1 billion shortly after a Series A funding, industry sources indicate that Farooq’s intention with Verdiva Bio is to build it rather than quickly sell.

Prior to Verdiva and Aiolos, Farooq served as chief executive at Gyroscope Therapeutics, a gene therapy startup focusing on eye conditions, which Novartis acquired in 2021 for $800 million. However, Novartis later halted research on one of its gene therapy candidates.

Farooq’s experience in ophthalmology follows a decade spent at Genentech, which was acquired by Roche, where he headed units focusing on immunology and ophthalmology.

Before his tenure at Genentech, he worked for over ten years at Sanofi-Aventis, leading metabolism and diabetes units after obtaining his biological sciences degree from the University of Wolverhampton and an MBA from Aston University.

Farooq also holds several directorship positions. In November, he was appointed as a director of Vicebio, a London-based firm specializing in respiratory virus vaccines, backed by Goldman Sachs, alongside Moncef Slaoui, who was a key figure in the COVID-19 vaccine effort during President Trump’s administration.

Outside his professional life, Farooq is an Arsenal season ticket holder and enjoys cycling.