The whole world is snatching the outlet, but the battlefield is no longer limited to the drug itself, but gradually spilling over.
At present, capital and pharmaceutical companies are beginning to compete for the potential "partner" of GLP-1. The core logic is that consumers demand higher quality.
What happened to Bioage Labs illustrates this point. As a biotech, Bioage Labs' previous R&D was not smooth, and the last round of funding was in 2020. Considering that the pipelines that underpinned the last round of funding have all failed, Bioage Labs will normally continue to sink.
But the frenzy around GLP-1 changed all that. Its core pipeline, BGE-105, has the effect of combining with GLP-1 to produce a 1+1 greater than 2 effect: enhancing the ** effect without losing muscle.
It's this potential that makes it one of the lucky ones. Bioage Labs completed 1The $700 million Series D financing was attended by Amgen and other leading pharmaceutical companies.
The sharp rise in popularity of Bioage Labs essentially indicates that a race to hunt for a GLP-1 partner has begun.
01 The lucky one who was chosen by the times
If it weren't for the GLP-1 outlet, perhaps no one would be paying attention to Bioage Labs at this moment. After all, judging by its track record, it is only an unsuccessful biotech.
In the past, Bioage Labs was positioned as a biotechnology company that develops drugs for aging and aging-related diseases. In 2020, the Company completed a Series C financing of $90 million with the aim of advancing BGE-117 and BGE-175 into clinical trials.
BGE-117 is an orally administered small molecule that inhibits the enzyme prolyl hydroxylase (HIF pH), thereby activating hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF), a key transcription factor in cellular responses to low oxygen levels. Activation of the BIF signaling improves oxygen delivery in the body and has the potential to improve the elasticity, repair, and regeneration of multiple tissues and organs.
The Company believes that BGE-117 has the potential for unexplained senile anemia (UAA). UAA, as an anemia that affects older adults, cannot be attributed to iron deficiency or underlying medical conditions. Although unknown, patients with UAA have a reduced quality of life due to fatigue, reduced mobility, and loss of independence. Therefore, if the BGE-117 can become an effective new **, it must have high potential.
BGE-175 is a PGD inhibitor that was originally intended as an anti-aging target. However, Bioage Labs believes that the signaling pathway transduction targeted by the drug is associated with increased susceptibility to infection and an increased risk of death from infectious diseases. Therefore, in the wake of the COVID outbreak, the company conducted research on the use of BGE-175 to reduce COVID mortality.
If both drugs can be successfully developed, it may mean that Bioage Labs can bring huge returns to Series C investors. Unfortunately, both BGE-117 and BGE-175 have disappeared from the company's pipeline.
The failure of the two pipelines not only proves that the value of Bioage Labs' technology platform is questionable, but also shows that the company's clinical capabilities are not outstanding. The failure of BGE-175 was terminated due to the low number of critically ill hospitalizations.
But even so, it does not prevent Bioage Labs from continuing to be the darling of capital. It can only be said that GLP-1 is too hot.
02 The possibility of becoming a first-class medicine partner
Bioage Labs continues to gain capital recognition because of the appeal of its new pipeline, BGE-105.
BGE-105 is an epazol receptor agonist. Epasol is a workout-stimulating peptide that regulates metabolism and promotes muscle regeneration through interactions with skeletal muscle, heart, and central nervous system.
According to the results of the company's Phase 1 clinical trial, BGE-105 significantly prevents muscle wasting and maintains muscle protein synthesis in healthy elderly people over 65 years of age who require strict bed rest.
This effect is expected to make up for the deficiency of the ** drug GLP-1. Although GLP-1 drugs are amazingly effective, they may lose fat and muscle, and only fat is returned.
In the case of semaglutide, 140 patients underwent body composition analysis in the Step 1 trial demonstrating the weight loss effect of semaglutide. In these patients, muscle loss accounted for 39% of the total body weight lost.
Losing excess fat, especially visceral fat, is good for your health, but muscle loss is not. Muscle loss may increase the risk of cardiovascular, osteoporosis and other diseases, especially in older adults, and muscle loss also means an exponential increase in the risk of death.
This is a problem that pharmaceutical companies need to solve while GLP-1 is booming. It was in this context that Bioage Labs gained the favor of Eli Lilly.
In November last year, Bioage Labs partnered with Eli Lilly to initiate a Phase 2 clinical trial to explore whether BGE-105 combined with Tirzepatide could lead to healthier**, that is, weight loss and muscle gain.
According to Bioage Labs, there is no small hope that BGE-105 will succeed. Preliminary clinical studies have shown that BGE-105, when combined with low-dose tirzepatide, can increase the average weight loss of patients from 15% to 20%.
Although the final effect and muscle gain and loss still need more follow-up clinical data to give an answer, the capital is obviously uncontrollable.
It's not hard to understand. Currently, there are still a small number of potential drugs that can partner with GLP-1. Bioage Labs is a natural pig on the cusp.
03 The hunting competition of the new generation of ** medicine
Essentially, Bioage Labs is developing a pipeline that aligns with the goals of the next generation of first-class drugs.
In the future, the ** drug market will no longer focus on weight loss, but more on continuous weight management. Weight loss and weight management are two completely different concepts.
The former only cares about the amount of weight, while the latter is to control the patient's other risk factors, lose fat, reduce muscle loss, and maintain an ideal body mass index.
In fact, since last year, there have been many pharmaceutical companies that have carried out layouts based on this goal.
The most typical is Eli Lilly, which, in addition to joining forces with Bioage Labs, also acquired Versanis, a private company. This move is to win a new generation of ** drug bimagrumab, which can promote fat metabolism and gain muscle at the same time.
In addition, traditional big pharmaceutical companies such as AstraZeneca, Roche, and Regeneron that missed GLP-1 have also opened a battle for tickets to the new era.
For example, Regeneron reaffirmed its plan to enter the ** track in 2024, hoping to improve the ** quality of patients by adding a combination of trevogrumab and garetosmab to semaglutide.
The large layout of big pharmaceutical companies undoubtedly shows that the layout around the GLP-1 "partner" has begun. Now, with Bioage Labs completing a huge Series D funding round, it has added a fire to the field.
Predictably, the scramble for GLP-1 "partners" will not stop until this boom uplifts or disappoints the first companies.