In conjunction with this financing, Prof. Sir Mene Pangalos, former Executive Vice President of BioPharmaceuticals R&D at AstraZeneca and current Omega Funds Venture Partner, as well as Dr. Elisabeth Bjӧrk, former Senior Vice President of Cardiovascular, Renal, and Metabolism R&D at AstraZeneca, and Dr. Otello Stampacchia, Founder and Managing Director of Omega Funds, will join Ousia's Board of Directors
COPENHAGEN, Denmark and BOSTON, May 6, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Ousia Pharma, a next-generation biotech company pioneering a novel drug class for obesity, today announced the successful closing of a significant Seed financing round. The round, led and financed exclusively by Omega Funds, will support the preclinical and clinical development of Ousia's innovative once-weekly, dual-incretin-NMDA receptor antagonist conjugate. Additionally, the funding will drive the expansion of Ousia's proprietary technology, designed to target NMDA receptor small molecule modulators to specific neuronal populations.
While GLP-1-based multi-agonists are transforming obesity management, significant challenges remain, including tolerability issues, variability in patient weight loss response, and weight regain. These hurdles underscore the urgent need for more effective pharmacological approaches.
Ousia Pharma's innovative targeting concept is founded on the groundbreaking discovery that NMDA receptor antagonism holds promise for sustained weight loss. By ingeniously overcoming the challenge of non-specific targeting, Ousia has developed a novel strategy that conjugates small-molecule modulators to incretin hormones (Petersen et al., 2024, Nature). This pioneering work began in the research lab of Associate Professor Christoffer Clemmensen at the University of Copenhagen, culminating in the founding of Ousia Pharma in 2022 by Christoffer Clemmensen, Anders B. Klein, and Jonas Petersen. The company secured its initial pre-seed investments from the BioInnovation Institute in Copenhagen.
"We are excited to enter the next phase of Ousia Pharma's journey, advancing our groundbreaking platform towards clinical development," said Anders B. Klein, PhD, CEO of Ousia Pharma. "The strong support from Omega Funds enables us to accelerate the preclinical and clinical validation of our peptide-drug conjugate program, bringing us closer to a transformative treatment for obesity. With a unique mechanism designed to enhance efficacy while addressing key challenges like tolerability, we believe our approach has the potential to set a new standard in obesity therapeutics."
"We are thrilled to support Ousia Pharma as they advance a truly innovative approach to obesity treatment," said Otello Stampacchia, founder and Managing Director at Omega Funds. "Their novel dual-incretin-NMDA receptor antagonist conjugate represents a promising breakthrough in tackling several of the limitations of existing obesity treatments. We believe Ousia's pioneering science and accomplished team position the company for meaningful impact and value creation, and we are excited to be part of their journey."
Otello Stampacchia, along with pharmaceutical industry veterans Dr. Elisabeth Björk and Prof. Sir Mene Pangalos, will join the Ousia Pharma board. Pangalos was previously Executive Vice President of BioPharmaceuticals R&D at AstraZeneca, and Bjork was previously SVP of Cardiovascular, Renal, and Metabolism R&D at AstraZeneca, where she led the company's GLP-1 drug development efforts. They will join existing board members Ian Laquian, CEO of Kariya Pharmaceuticals, and Christoffer Clemmensen, Associate Professor within the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Basic Metabolic Research at the University of Copenhagen and Chief Scientific Officer at Ousia Pharma.
Prof. Sir Mene Pangalos said, "Having worked in the pharmaceutical industry for decades and witnessed many targets emerge and fade in the cardiometabolic space, I can confidently say that the approach taken by Ousia Pharma is one of the most innovative I have encountered. I am extremely excited to contribute to bringing Ousia Pharma's technology to patients."
About Ousia Pharma
Ousia Pharma, a private biotech company spun out from the University of Copenhagen, is developing innovative peptide-drug conjugates to treat obesity and metabolic diseases. The company has pioneered a first-in-class drug-targeting approach that leverages incretin hormone analogues to deliver small-molecule neuroplasticity modulators directly to the brain's appetite control centers. This groundbreaking strategy aims to provide transformative treatments for patients suffering from obesity and its associated cardiometabolic conditions. For more information, please visit www.ousiapharma.com.
About Omega Funds
Founded in 2004, Omega Funds is a leading international venture capital firm that creates and invests in life sciences companies that target our world's most urgent medical needs. Omega focuses on identifying and supporting companies through value inflection points across the full arc of innovation, from company formation through clinical milestones and commercial adoption. Omega Funds' portfolio companies have brought over 50 products to market in multiple therapeutic areas, including oncology, rare diseases, precision medicine and others. Please visit www.omegafunds.com for additional information.
Contacts
Ousia Pharma
Anders Bue Klein
Co-founder & CEO, Ousia Pharma
E-mail: abk@ousiapharma.com
Omega Funds
Otello Stampacchia
Managing Director, Omega Funds
E-mail: OS@omegafunds.com
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