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Deep Apple Strikes Cardiometabolic Deal With Novo Nordisk
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By Brian Gormley, WSJ Pro
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Good day. Biotechnology startup Deep Apple Therapeutics could earn more than $812 million through a deal with drugmaker Novo Nordisk to search for new medicines to treat cardiometabolic diseases, including obesity.
Novo Nordisk makes Wegovy, the blockbuster injected weight-loss drug. Though effective in promoting weight loss, Wegovy and other “incretin” drugs can cause side effects such as nausea. Several companies are searching for weight-loss medications that can be taken orally. They also seek treatments that cause fewer side effects.
Deep Apple and Novo aim to achieve both goals through this agreement. They will use Deep Apple technology to uncover oral drugs that take aim at a non-incretin target in the body.
Deep Apple’s technology enables it to screen billions of compounds virtually to identify drug candidates that can be developed physically and tested, said Spiros Liras, chief executive of Deep Apple and a venture partner with Apple Tree Partners, the venture investor that incubated the startup and backed it with $52 million in Series A financing in 2023.
The approach Deep Apple and Novo are taking could not only induce weight loss but also help patients who have lost weight keep it off, Liras said.
Today, patients often regain weight once they stop taking obesity medication, he said. Other companies are also targeting this weight-loss maintenance opportunity, including startup Verdiva Bio, which disclosed a $411 million venture financing in January.
And now on to the news...
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PHOTO: KENA BETANCUR/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES
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Agentic AI. When hospitals discharge patients, finding enough caregivers to follow up with them can be difficult. Ellipsis Health wants to fill those gaps using artificial intelligence.
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The health-technology company has raised $45 million in new venture capital to expand the use of its AI-driven software that can make or receive phone calls autonomously to check in on patients between doctor visits.
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Ellipsis says it has several customers using its agentic AI care manager, Sage. They include health insurers and health systems and several large specialty-care management companies.
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Sage, for example, can help patients understand discharge paperwork and follow up to check on issues such as whether they are taking their medicine and if they need refills. It also can advise them on matters such as diet and arrange transportation to follow-up appointments, said founder and Chief Executive Mainul Mondal.
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$45 Million
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The amount Ellipsis Health raised in its Series A-1 financing.
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Pennsylvania House Votes to Scrutinize PE Healthcare Takeovers
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Pennsylvania lawmakers took a step toward enacting restrictions on private-equity medical takeovers, aiming to prevent a repeat of buyouts that led to recent hospital closures in the state, WSJ Pro reports. On Tuesday, Pennsylvania’s Democratic-controlled House of Representatives approved a bill to give the state attorney general power to review private-equity takeovers of healthcare facilities and challenge those deemed not to be in the public interest. The measure, which passed with bipartisan support and also has the backing of Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, now heads to the Republican-controlled state Senate. State Rep. Lisa Borowski, who introduced the bill, said the goal is to prevent harmful conduct by private-equity firms,
without prohibiting investment.
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Nvidia and Perplexity Team Up in European AI Push
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Nvidia and Perplexity are partnering to offer what they call localized and sovereign artificial intelligence models to their users in Europe, the companies said Wednesday, The Wall Street Journal reports. The chip titan is working with local European partners, including the French AI firm H Company, to build open-source, sovereign AI models that will be offered through AI search startup Perplexity’s platform. The models will run on local AI infrastructure from European partners participating in DGX Cloud Lepton, a service designed to link AI developers with Nvidia’s network of cloud providers. Businesses can also access
and fine-tune or customize those AI models through an integration with Hugging Face, which runs a popular open-source model platform.
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People
Fertility clinic network Kindbody named David Stern as chief executive officer. He previously served as CEO of Boston IVF.
Fable Therapeutics, a biotechnology startup developing treatments for people living with metabolic diseases including obesity, appointed David J. Baker as chief scientific officer. He was previously at AstraZeneca.
Tevard Biosciences, a developer of tRNA-based therapies for the treatment of genetic diseases, appointed Elisabeth Gardiner as chief scientific officer. She was previously CSO at Tactile Therapeutics.
Deals
Drug discovery and development tools provider Nicoya Lifesciences acquired Applied Photophysics, a provider of biophysical characterization instrumentation, for an undisclosed amount.
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Antares Therapeutics, a startup developing precision medicines for cancer and other serious diseases, launched with $177 million in Series A funding from investors including Atlas Venture, Lightspeed Venture Partners and others. The company has offices in Boston and South San Francisco, Calif.
SpliceBio, a Barcelona-based developer of therapies for genetic diseases using protein splicing technology, completed a $135 million Series B round. EQT Life Sciences and Sanofi Ventures co-led the investment, which included participation from Roche Venture Fund, New Enterprise Associates and others.
Mosanna Therapeutics, a startup developing a nasal-spray treatment for sleep apnea, closed an $80 million Series A round from investors including EQT Life Sciences, Pivotal bioVenture Partners and Forbion. The company also appointed David Weber as president and chief executive officer. He most recently served as president and CEO of Otonomy. Mosanna has offices in Redwood City, Calif. and Switzerland.
Eli Health, a Montreal-based AI-powered instant hormone monitoring system, secured $12 million in Series A financing led by BDC Capital’s Thrive Venture Fund.
Somnee, a Berkeley, Calif.-based maker of a smart sleep headband, raised a $10 million seed extension round led by Khosla Ventures.
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Some biohackers are embracing these drugs as the latest fountain of youth. Illustration: STEPH AARONSON/WSJ, DAISY KORPICS/WSJ, PIXELSQUID (2)
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