Antag Therapeutics secures €80 million in weight loss therapy financing

Versant Ventures leads investment round to advance drug

Antag Therapeutics has announced the closing of an €80 million Series A financing round to develop AT-7687, a novel therapy targeting obesity.

The round was led by Versant Ventures, with Novo Holdings, SR One, Dawn Biopharma, and Pictet also participating.

“The backing of such a strong syndicate of global investors is a testament to our pioneering approach to developing novel therapies for patients with obesity,” said Alexander Hovard Sparre-Ulrich, PhD, CEO and co-founder of Antag. “Coupled with our recent IND clearance, this investment allows us to accelerate the development of AT-7687 towards important clinical milestones.”

Antag’s lead product, AT-7687, is a once-weekly subcutaneous antagonist of the Glucose-Dependent Insulinotropic Polypeptide Receptor (GIPR).

It’s designed to be co-administered with GLP-1 therapies to enhance weight loss and metabolic benefits without gastrointestinal side effects.

“Antag’s peptides will have important advantages given their ability to be used alone or optimally combined with other incretin-based agents, in both weekly or monthly formats,” said Alex Mayweg, PhD, Managing Director at Versant and an Antag board member.

The financing will also support Antag’s pipeline expansion, including monthly injectable therapies. In non-human primate studies, AT-7687 plus GLP-1 showed superior weight loss, improved glycemic control, and lipid profiles.

Antag’s development is based on findings from University of Copenhagen professors Jens Holst and Mette Rosenkilde, who discovered an endogenous GIPR antagonist.

With FDA approval for AT-7687’s Investigational New Drug application, clinical trials will begin early next year, exploring its effects as a monotherapy and in combination with GLP-1 receptor agonists in obese patients.