ARD-501

Aardvark Therapeutics filed for an IPO Thursday night, making it the sixth biotech in line this year for a potential listing on the Nasdaq. The San Diego biotech is trying to break into the obesity field from a different angle, by targeting hunger signals rather than suppressing appetite like megablockbuster GLP-1s. “Most folks will conceptualize appetite and hunger as, ‘Aren’t they just different extremes along the same continuum?’” Aardvark CEO Tien Lee told Endpoints News in May 2024, after the company raised an $85 million Series C . “But they’re actually two different neurologic drives.” Its lead drug, ARD-101, is being tested in Prader-Willi syndrome-associated hyperphagia, a rare genetic disease that can cause unrelenting feelings of hunger. The experimental drug goes after a bitter taste receptor agonist called TAS2R, and Aardvark expects to have Phase 3 data in early 2026, according to the securities filing. ARD-101 will also enter Phase 2 in hypothalamic obesity-associated hyperphagia in the second half of this year, according to the filing. Around that same time, Aardvark will also start a Phase 2 trial of another oral TAS2R agonist, ARD-201, in combination with a DPP-4 inhibitor in people with obesity. Aardvark is far from the only young company seeking a piece of an obesity market that’s currently dominated by Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk. And competing won’t be cheap. Investors have funneled $400 million into two new obesity companies in recent months, and several others are already publicly listed. Companies in the space have found themselves investing early in manufacturing and trial data to separate themselves from the pack. Aardvark would trade under the ticker $AARD . It joins obesity biotech Metsera , kidney disease drug developer Maze, cystic fibrosis company Sionna and immunology startup Odyssey with IPO plans. And Hong Kong Stock Exchange-listed Ascentage Pharma will get about $126 million from its dual listing in the US on Friday. Lee founded the company in 2017. He and his spouse, Jane Wu Lee, are the largest shareholders in Aardvark, holding a combined 19.1%, according to the filing. Decheng Capital is the second largest shareholder at 17.2%. Vickers Venture Fund is 0.1% behind. In the interview last May, the CEO told Endpoints an “IPO is on the table if the market conditions are reasonable, but we’re not necessarily having that as our only plan.” At the time, the biotech was “having meaningful conversations with more than one large pharma company that are exploring possibilities for licensing or partnership.” Aardvark didn’t disclose how much it seeks to raise in the IPO. The 18-employee company spent $9.3 million on R&D in the first nine months of 2024. It had $82.3 million in cash, equivalents and short-term investments at the end of September. It has also tested another asset, ARD-501, for autism spectrum disorder. Its pipeline also includes an oral candidate for overactive bladder, a topical for inflammatory skin disorders and an abuse deterrent.