Good day. Versant Ventures and drugmaker AstraZeneca are backing biotechnology startup SixPeaks Bio, a new contestant in the race to develop medicines that counteract muscle loss that can occur in patients taking weight-loss medications.

Weight-loss drugs, such as Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy, activate receptors for hormones, known as incretins, to reduce appetite. As patients shed weight, they can lose muscle as well as fat.

Because of their efficacy, this effect won’t derail current obesity drugs, said Steven Seedhouse, head of biotechnology research for financial-services company Raymond James.

But helping patients maintain muscle would be beneficial, say several entrepreneurs. For example, skeletal muscle is an important regulator of blood glucose, said SixPeaks Chief Executive Dr. Philip Larsen. Patients who lose too much skeletal muscle mass may jeopardize glycemic control, he added.

Versant in 2022 launched SixPeaks, which operated quietly until now. The company Wednesday said it had raised a $30 million Series A round led by Versant with participation from AstraZeneca.

SixPeaks also can secure up to $80 million in nondilutive financing through a collaboration formed with AstraZeneca, which has gained an exclusive option to acquire SixPeaks when the startup’s lead antibody drug is set to enter clinical trials, the companies said.

SixPeaks’ most-advanced antibody targets a receptor known as activin IIA/B to preserve skeletal muscle. It expects the drug could be used in Type 2 diabetes patients and could be combined with current weight-loss medications known as GLP-1 agonists. SixPeaks aims to start clinical trials in 2025, Larsen said.

A second product combines this antibody with a GLP-1 agonist, with a goal of promoting more healthful weight loss, according to SixPeaks.

Versant considered various ways to fund SixPeaks, said Alex Mayweg, a managing director with the venture firm who said investors and drugmakers showed interest during the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference in January.

But the question wasn’t if SixPeaks should secure a partner but when, Larsen said. Having one onboard at the outset is valuable considering the cost of advancing obesity treatments through clinical trials, he said.

“This is a field where you will invariably have to invest a lot of money in late-phase clinical development,” Larsen added.

And now on to the news...

New healthcare investor. Jo Natauri is launching Invidia Capital Management, a midmarket private-equity firm that combines her lifelong interest in healthcare and decades of investment experience, including at Goldman Sachs Group, WSJ Pro reports.

• Asset manager GCM Grosvenor in Chicago is backing Invidia’s formation with a strategic investment and will also help the New York-based firm establish back-office infrastructure for tasks such as compliance and providing cybersecurity.
   
• Natauri previously spent over 17 years at Goldman Sachs, where as a partner she most recently led the firm’s global private-equity investing in healthcare. But her interest in the sector goes back to her teenage years when she entered the University of Virginia as a 16-year-old freshman with a dream of becoming a doctor.
   
• Ultimately, her focus shifted to the business of healthcare. In part, her goal of becoming a doctor dropped away because, she said, “I pass out at the sight of blood, so it was not a career I could pursue.”

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration gave a green light to Elon Musk’s Neuralink to implant its brain chip in a second person, signing off on the company’s proposed fixes for a problem that occurred in the first test participant, The Wall Street Journal reports. The fixes include embedding some of the device’s ultrathin wires deeper into the brain, according to a person familiar with the company and a document viewed by the Journal.  As Neuralink prepares for its second test participant, the first, Noland Arbaugh, is opening up about the impact of the device on his life and the emotional roller coaster he experienced before, during and after the device lost part of its functionality. 

People

Healthcare-focused SpringTide Ventures appointed Brad Otto and Claire Smith as partners. Before joining the firm, Otto was on the corporate venture-capital team at UnitedHealth Group. Smith was an investor at Meridian Street Capital and Anterra Capital.

Benchling, a research and development cloud for the biotechnology industry, said Ron Gill joined the company as chief financial officer. He was previously CFO at NetSuite.

Ryght, a provider of generative AI technology to the healthcare and life sciences industry, appointed Chadi Nabhan as chief medical officer and head of strategy. He was previously senior vice president and chairman of the Precision Oncology Alliance at Caris Life Sciences.

Pheon Therapeutics, a U.K.- and Cambridge, Mass.-based startup developing antibody drug conjugates to treat solid tumors, scored $120 million in Series B funding. TCGX led the round, with Managing Partner Cariad Chester joining the company’s board.

Progentos Therapeutics, a startup developing treatments for multiple sclerosis and other degenerative diseases, closed a $65 million Series A round led by Forbion. The company has offices in Watertown, Mass., and the Netherlands.

Grey Wolf Therapeutics, a U.K.- and Australia-based drug-discovery and -development company, added $50 million in Series B funding, bringing the round total to $99 million. ICG’s Life Sciences team led the latest tranche, and Tracy Weightman will join the Grey Wolf board.

LabGenius, a London-based startup using machine learning for the discovery of novel therapeutic antibodies, secured £35 million in Series B financing led by M Ventures.

Atropos Health, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based startup that translates clinical data into personalized evidence and insights, landed $30 million in Series B funding. Valtruis led the round, with Mike Spadafore joining the company’s board.

Expressable, a virtual speech therapy provider, raised $26 million in Series B funding. HarbourVest Partners led the round, which included participation from F-Prime Capital and Lerer Hippeau.

Radar Therapeutics, a Berkeley, Calif.-based startup developing smart programmable medicines, was seeded with a $13.4 million investment led by NfX Bio.

Welbe, a Mexico City-based occupational-health-management provider to large and medium-size companies, raised $7 million in Series A funding from investors including Volpe Capital.

OncoveryCare, a Boston-based startup delivering care to cancer survivors, closed a $4.5 million seed round led by .406 Ventures.

• Influencers are saying sunscreen causes cancer. They are wrong.
   
• GSK’s potential blockbuster asthma drug shows promise in latest trial
   
• AstraZeneca plans $1.5 billion manufacturing facility in Singapore
   
• Hospital to union: pay up or you’re stuck with us in your health plan
   
• Hims & Hers Health to offer injectable weight-loss drugs on telehealth platform

• The disease detectives trying to keep the world safe from bird flu (New York Times)
   
• Maryland takes first steps to cap drug costs (STAT)
   
• New hope for a common and deadly heart condition (New England Journal of Medicine)
   
• Merck KGaA makes $600 million bet to boost manufacturing for viral vectors (Endpoints News)

This newsletter was compiled by Matthew Strozier, Zachary Cole and Brian Gormley. 

WSJ Pro Venture Capital is a premium service of The Wall Street Journal. We cover venture capital and the global startup ecosystem. Share your tips, comments and questions: vcnews@wsj.com

The Team: Matthew Strozier, Yuliya Chernova, Brian Gormley, Angus Loten and Marc Vartabedian.

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