Kailera Therapeutics, Inc.

None With the obesity market projected to exceed $130 billion by 2034, many major pharmaceutical players are rapidly advancing pipelines to capitalize on what is arguably the most dynamic space in the industry. To identify the companies positioned to outperform, FENIX has created the Obesity Power Rankings of the Top 10 players. For context, >20 companies were assessed across more than 15 weighted criteria, including pipeline depth, clinical differentiation, and commercial infrastructure, to derive a composite score out of five. If you’re interested in a deeper look at the full assessment framework, please contact the FENIX team. Below, FENIX outlines the rationale for all rankings and highlights key headwinds and tailwinds that shape each company’s position:   Lilly (4.9/5): Lilly remains the undisputed market leader in obesity, as evidenced by its tirzepatide franchise becoming the world’s top-selling drug in 2025, surpassing Merck’s Keytruda to generate >$36 billion in annual revenue. While Lilly possesses a robust late-stage pipeline which is anticipated to help defend its leadership position, near-term momentum is expected to center on the orforglipron launch in Q2 2026. Considering Novo’s Wegovy Pill appears to hold a marginal edge in terms of efficacy, Lilly’s commercial team may need, for once, to come from behind. Novo Nordisk (4.8/5): Having effectively pioneered the modern obesity market with semaglutide, Novo entered 2026 confronting a convergence of executional challenges and a visible decline in innovation, factors that culminated in the company issuing its first negative annual sales outlook since semaglutide’s ascent. Novo now relies on strong launches of injectable 7.2mg Wegovy, Wegovy Pill, and CagriSema to stabilize its US market share and rebuild investor confidence. While these launches may alleviate near-term pressures, it remains uncertain whether Novo has truly identified a long-term successor to semaglutide. Pfizer (4.1/5): Following its $10 billion Metsera acquisition and licensing agreement with YaoPharma in 2025, Pfizer has significantly vaulted up the competitive rankings. While the company previously faced multiple setbacks in obesity (e.g., danuglipron and lotiglipron discontinuations), Pfizer finally appears to have assembled a differentiated pipeline that can fully leverage its established commercial and manufacturing infrastructure. Roche (4.0/5): Despite its historically limited presence in the cardiometabolic space, Roche has publicly emphasized its ambition to become a Top 3 player in the obesity market. Following the recent encouraging topline CT‑388 Phase 2 results, attention now turns to the upcoming Phase 2 petrelintide readout in H1 2026, a pivotal catalyst that will likely shape the trajectory of its partnership with Zealand and, ultimately, Roche’s broader obesity aspirations.  AstraZeneca (3.6/5): A compelling case can be made that AZ has the pipeline depth to emerge as a dark horse contender for the third-place position in the power rankings. The company quietly advanced a broad mid-stage pipeline throughout 2025; and with multiple Phase 2 readouts expected in 2026, it's licensing agreement with CSPC Pharmaceuticals, which added a monthly dual agonist to its arsenal, further strengthens it as a serious contender.  Amgen (3.3/5): Amgen is effectively placing a concentrated bet that MariTide’s extended dosing will be its key differentiator in the future obesity market. While quarterly maintenance dosing is differentiated, it remains to be seen whether the company can overcome the Phase 2 tolerability issues that unsettled investors at ADA 2025. Boehringer Ingelheim (3.0/5): With data from the Phase 3 survodutide program anticipated to begin reading out in H1 2026, BI is set to become the first challenger to the current Lilly+Novo duopoly. Even with positive Phase 3 survodutide data, BI likely needs to expand its pipeline beyond its Phase 2 triple agonist to become a long-term competitive player in the space. Regeneron (2.9/5): While it was previously believed Regeneron was taking a tangential approach in the obesity market, looking to develop lean mass-sparing assets, its in-licensing deal for olatorepatide in June 2025 revealed the company’s broader obesity ambitions. However, similar to both BI and Amgen, it is believed Regeneron also needs to further diversify its portfolio to be considered a future leader in obesity. Zealand Pharma (2.4/5): Zealand, guided by CEO Adam Steenburg’s ambition to end what he describes as the “Weight Loss Olympics,” is making a strategic bet that amylin will become the next foundational anti-obesity class. Following Zealand’s partnership with Roche for petrelintide, the upcoming Phase 2 ZUPREME-1 readout will offer the first meaningful look into whether petrelintide lives up to the TPP promise. Kailera Therapeutics (2.2/5): Having licensed China-based Hengrui’s GLP-1/GIP dual agonist (ribupatide), which has already demonstrated strong late-stage weight loss efficacy in a Chinese population, Kailera initiated its own Phase 3 program evaluating higher doses (>6 mg) over longer treatment durations. It will be interesting to see if Kailera follows the traditional path of partnering with Big Pharma or if it goes alone with a new US commercial model (i.e., solely direct-to-patient).

iStock, Yutthana Gaetgeaw PitchBook’s 2025 biopharma VC analysis clocked $33.8 billion in capital dispatched in 2025, mainly to companies with later-stage programs ready to roll into the clinic. Venture capital in biopharma has found a new rhythm after the highs of 2021, with deal value rising in 2025 as the $33.8 billion in dispatched funding focused on a more concentrated collection of late-stage companies, according to PitchBook. Overall, the firm’s 2025 biopharma VC analysis , published last week, determined that 2025 was a positive year despite fewer high-conviction opportunities. The firm stressed that early-stage venture capital (VC) needs to rebound to repopulate the biotech ecosystem and replenish pipelines. PitchBook also found an uneven exit market, although some momentum grew at the end of the year with a rise in M&A. Overall, PitchBook is expecting the trends of 2025 to flow into “a continued, albeit disciplined, recovery in 2026.” The $33.8 billion in VC funding spread out across 1,171 total deals, which landed above the 1,091 recorded for 2024, when $31.9 billion was dispatched. Both totals pale in comparison with 2021’s sum of $55.7 billion in VC, though that funding was awarded to fewer biotechs—just 1,039 of them. And that year was, of course, a major outlier, as the biopharma industry benefitted from outside interest as the pandemic brought it to the forefront of investing. Since then, the industry has been facing a prolonged and painful contraction, with funding falling by $18.5 billion between 2021 and 2022. Above $30 billion in VC spending appears to be a new normal. Investors have been particularly keen on asset-centric companies that form around late-stage bets and on differentiated platforms that address well-defined biological or technical bottlenecks, according to PitchBook. This is emphasized in some of the larger megarounds of the year, such as Kailera Therapeutics’ $600 million series B in the fourth quarter, which followed a $400 million series A in late 2024. The obesity-focused company is already in Phase 3 with the GLP-1/GIP receptor dual agonist ribupatide . Venture capital Early-Stage Biotechs Feel the Squeeze as Funding Favors Derisked Assets: JPM Heightened diligence standards and longer decision timelines for early-stage startups slowed venture activity last year, J.P. Morgan found in a report published ahead of the bank’s annual healthcare conference in San Francisco. January 12, 2026 · 2 min read · Nick Paul Taylor Read More The focus on late-stage assets has been to the deficit of early-stage companies. Just 32% of the VC share went to these startups, compared to over 40% in the pandemic heyday from 2020 to 2022. This suggests “a meaningful reduction in the number of new company formations and first financings,” PitchBook said. But at the same time, median deal value has risen to $26.6 million, as compared to $19.9 million in 2024. “Together, these trends point to a fundamental change in how investors underwrite early-stage risk,” PitchBook wrote. “Where early rounds once funded preclinical programs focused on initial scientific validation, early-stage activity now includes consolidated mega-rounds backing clinically mature assets and experienced leadership teams.” U.S. biotechs are facing a double challenge, with public funding sources drying up in light of the government’s shifting research priorities , PitchBook noted. This leaves a window open for China , which has been happy to step in with biopharma innovation. Kailera’s assets were licensed from a Chinese firm, as were those for other new companies formed in 2025. As for exits, VC firms saw an increase in value as they took the offramp but there were still fewer overall. In 2025, there were 79 total exits for $35.5 billion as compared to 98 total and $33.3 billion the year prior. “As with VC deals, exits increasingly skewed toward fewer but larger transactions, reinforcing the broader theme of selectivity across the biopharma venture ecosystem,” PitchBook wrote. .responsive-container { display: flex; flex-wrap: wrap; border: 1px solid #ededed; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, Sans-Serif; padding: 20px 20px 10px 20px; } .column-left { flex: 1; max-width: 45%; padding: 20px 20px 10px 20px; } .column-right { flex: 2; padding: 20px 20px 10px 20px; } @media (max-width: 768px) { .column-left, .column-right { max-width: 100%; flex: 100%; padding: 10px 0; } } Subscribe to BioPharm Executive! Market insights, trending business and policy stories for biopharma leaders hbspt.forms.create({ region: "na1", portalId: "4413123", formId: "7c139b3c-ff0b-44e0-bffe-f449801dca59", onFormSubmitted: function($form, data) { window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; window.dataLayer.push({ 'event': 'GTMevent', 'event_name': 'newsletter_sign_up' }); } });

Venture capital funding is showing a preference for more certain scores, with median early-stage funding value rising 77% from last year.\n Just as a disciplined a soccer player might pass on a hopeful shot in favor of a better chance later on, the biopharma venture capital market reflected a preference for de-risked assts over platforms and is expected to display a “continued, albeit disciplined” recovery in 2026, according to a fourth-quarter PitchBook report. After bottoming out post-pandemic surge, biopharma venture capital continued to make a modest rebound in 2025. For the second consecutive quarter, deal value rose as capital became more selective and concentrated on fewer, larger deals. Exit market momentum also grew at the end of last year, with energy coalescing around two investment models: asset-centric new companies focused on late-stage programs or platform solutions for biological or technical bottlenecks. The new company trend typically pairs seasoned leadership teams with in-licensed, mature assets.Biopharma deal value reached $33.8 billion in 2025, a modest increase from the year before, while deal counts increased for the first year-over-year gain since 2021. While the deal flow hasn’t matched the pandemic-fueled activity of 2021 that was propelled by generalist investors entering biopharma, the VC market continues to recover through selectivity, with more resources committed to fewer deals. Early-stage investment stats clarify the trend and define the fundamental change in the mindsets of early-stage investors. Since 2020, early-stage funding for biopharma has shrunk from 44% to 32%, while median early-stage funding value has risen 77%, growing from $15 million to $27 million last year. Kailera Therapeutics’ $600 million series B raise that followed its $400 million series A boost in late 2024 epitomizes the pattern. The company focuses on late-stage obesity assets licensed from China’s Hengrui Pharma, and last October’s funding aims to propel the obesity program into phase 3. Additionally, cardiovascular-disease-focused Kardigan raised a $254 million series B round after debuting with $300 million earlier in the year to support its late-stage clinical assets. The company boosted expectations with phase 2b data for danicamtiv to treat certain forms of dilated cardiomyopathy, a condition that enlarges the heart chambers and can interrupt blood flow.Both deals focus on later-stage assets in lucrative treatment areas, reflecting VC’s diligence, focus and a willingness to take big swings when conditions are right.  If PitchBook’s prediction is to come true, 2026 will need to avoid last year’s dealmaking disruptions. Major FDA inconsistency, threats to public funding and tariff uncertainties plagued the stability of every industry, biopharma included. Last fall’s government shutdown may have muted fourth-quarter activity, PitchBook’s report said, when a hampered FDA couldn’t process new filings and carry out facility inspections. In an industry dependent on milestone-based financing, a stable regulatory infrastructure is essential, though last week’s news about the FDA\'s denial of Moderna’s flu vaccine hasn\'t set a promising backdrop.  The best soccer clubs in the world rarely take a shot on goal unless they are quite sure they will score for fear of losing possession of the ball, and biopharma VC seems to be taking a page out of the manager’s pregame notebook. The year will continue the trend of disciplined recovery through high-conviction capital supporting candidates with clearer paths to returns, the PitchBook report concludes.