Angitia Biopharmaceuticals Guangzhou Ltd.

Angitia raises $130M to advance musculoskeletal drug pipelineLB Pharma brings in $100M in private placementEisai gains rights to Henlius' anti-PD-1 in JapanCVS drops Amgen, Lilly bone drugs from key formulariesAngitia raises $130M to advance musculoskeletal drug pipelineAngitia Biopharmaceuticals closed a $130-million series D financing to support the continued development of its pipeline of drugs for musculoskeletal diseases. The company's pipeline includes the three biologic product candidates — AGA2118, AGA2115 and AGA111 — in the clinic for the treatment of postmenopausal osteoporosis, osteogenesis imperfecta and spinal fusion. The funding round was co-led by Frazier Life Sciences and Venrock Healthcare Capital Partners, with new investors, including Ascenta Capital, BVF Partners, Logos Capital and RA Capital Management, joining existing backers, such as Bain Capital Life Sciences, OrbiMed and TF Capital.CEO David Ke noted that Angitia recently completed enrollment in the Phase II ARTEMIS trial in postmenopausal osteoporosis and started dosing in the mid-stage IDUN study in osteogenesis imperfecta.-Matthew DennisLB Pharma brings in $100M in private placementLB Pharmaceuticals is selling around 3.3 million shares for $21.17 a piece as part of a private placement that is expected to raise approximately $100 million. The funds will support a Phase II trial of the company's lead pipeline candidate, the benzamide antipsychotic drug LB-102, as an adjunctive treatment for major depressive disorder.The private placement comprised new and existing investors, including Balyasny Asset Management, Caligan Partners, Commodore Capital, Deep Track Capital, Nantahala Capital, Pivotal bioVenture Partners, Spruce Street Capital, TCGX and Trails Edge Capital Partners.-Matthew DennisEisai gains rights to Henlius' anti-PD-1 in JapanEisai licensed Japanese rights to Henlius Biotech's anti-PD-1 antibody serplulimab under a deal potentially worth more than $388 million. Serplulimab is already approved in China under the name Hansizhuang and in the EU as the brand Hetronifly for the treatment of various forms of lung cancer.Henlius is currently conducting a Japanese Phase II bridging study of serplulimab in extensive-stage small-cell lung cancer, with plans to submit a marketing application in fiscal year 2026 that will also include Phase III data that supported approvals in China and Europe. "We anticipate that it will also become a promising treatment option in Japan for…non-MSI-high metastatic colorectal cancer, for which development is under way," said Toshihiko Yusa, head of Eisai's Japan business unit.As part of the deal, Eisai will make a $75-million upfront payment, along with regulatory milestones of up to $80.01 million and sales milestones of up to $233.3 million. In addition, Henlius is eligible to receive double-digit royalties on sales of the product in Japan.-Matthew DennisCVS drops Amgen, Lilly bone drugs from key formulariesCVS Health will remove two osteoporosis drugs — Amgen's Prolia (denosumab) and Eli Lilly's Forteo (teriparatide) — from certain preferred drug lists, replacing them with biosimilars and generics beginning April 1.Through its pharmacy benefit manager CVS Caremark, the company will add Prolia biosimilars such as Ospomyv, sold by CVS unit Cordavis, and Celltrion's Stoboclo, alongside generic teriparatide options Bonsity and Tymlos, to major national commercial template formularies. "This preferred biosimilar approach is over 50% lower in costs per prescription than the original brand," CVS said.The move follows the expiration of key US patents for Prolia in 2025 and the earlier loss of primary patents for Forteo in 2019. The formulary change also builds on CVS's decision in 2024 to exclude AbbVie's Humira (adalimumab) in favour of biosimilars.-Anna Bratulic

Frazier Life Sciences and Venrock Healthcare Capital Partners co-led Angitia Biopharmaceuticals\' series D round.\n Angitia Biopharmaceuticals has unveiled its second megaround in 14 months, revealing a $130 million series D financing that positions the biotech to take three bone disease prospects deeper into the clinic.Led by people who learned the bone business at companies including Amgen, Eli Lilly and Pfizer, Angitia has advanced three candidates into phase 2 and 3 clinical trials. The pipeline is spearheaded by AGA111, a recombinant human BMP-6 protein that is in a phase 3 trial in patients undergoing a spinal fusion. A Chinese study of the candidate has a final completion date of November on ClinicalTrials.gov, while the primary completion date was scheduled for the end of last year.Yet, like when the company raised a $120 million series C round in 2024, Angitia gave top billing in its press release to a pair of earlier-phase prospects, AGA2118 and AGA2115. Both assets are bispecific antibodies targeting sclerostin and DKK1, key negative regulators of Wnt signaling in bone.Sclerostin is the target of Evenity, an Amgen product the FDA approved in 2019 to treat osteoporosis in postmenopausal women at high risk of fracture. DKK1 has been recognized as a potential bone disease target for years—Pfizer trialed an inhibitor of the protein in 2011—but Leap Therapeutics and Junshi Biosciences have shifted the focus to its role in cancer in recent years.Neutralizing sclerostin and DKK1 could boost bone formation and suppress bone resorption. Combined, the mechanisms could drive increases in bone mineral density. Angitia recently completed enrollment in a phase 2 study of AGA2118 in osteoporosis, and dosed the first patient with AGA2115 in a phase 2 trial in osteogenesis imperfecta. Phase 2 osteoporosis data are due next year. Osteogenesis imperfecta, colloquially called brittle bone disease, has thwarted earlier R&D programs. A pair of late-phase trials of Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical and Mereo BioPharma’s setrusumab missed their primary endpoints at the end of 2025. Setrusumab inhibits sclerostin. Amgen is testing its sclerostin inhibitor, Evenity, in a phase 3 osteogenesis imperfecta trial. The biotech terminated a phase 3 osteogenesis imperfecta trial of Xgeva over safety concerns in 2022. Angitia could face competition in both the indications targeted by its bispecifics, with multiple companies already vying for the osteoporosis market, but its dual mechanism of action could provide an edge.Frazier Life Sciences and Venrock Healthcare Capital Partners see the programs’ promise, co-leading the series D round with assists from new investors including Ascenta Capital, BVF Partners, Logos Capital, RA Capital Management and Wellington Management. Bain Capital Life Sciences, which led the series C, and other existing investors returned for the latest financing round. 

A US-China biotech has reeled in $130 million for three biologics in clinical testing for musculoskeletal diseases, including one in which Ultragenyx recently came up short . Angitia Biopharmaceuticals disclosed its Series D on Thursday morning, about 14 months after a $120 million Series C . The nearly eight-year-old drug developer has now raised $454 million since its founding, the company told Endpoints News . It has nearly 100 employees across operations in Westlake Village, CA, and Guangzhou, China. Prominent biotech investors joined for the new round, including co-lead investors Frazier Life Sciences and Venrock Healthcare Capital Partners. Other new backers include Ascenta Capital, BlackRock, BVF Partners, Logos Capital, RA Capital and Wellington Management. Existing investors like Bain Capital Life Sciences, Hillhouse Capital and OrbiMed contributed additional financial support in the Series D. At this stage in the funding round, an IPO is the likely next step. A few biotechs ( Aktis , Veradermics and Eikon ) have gone public so far this year, warming the waters for a long queue of private startups that have waited years for a healthier IPO market. Angitia is in Phase 3 in China with AGA111, which is being tested for patients with degenerative disc disease who are undergoing a lumbar interbody fusion. The company told Endpoints it does not yet have the Phase 3 data but is “happy with the progress” of the drug. They said they have no plans to test it outside of China. Earlier this year, the startup finished enrollment in a Phase 2 study of a different biologic for the treatment of osteoporosis, a condition that leads to fragile bones and increased risk of fractures. Codenamed AGA2118, the bispecific antibody targets both sclerostin and DKK1. That international Phase 2 is slated to have data in 2027, Angitia said last month. About 380 postmenopausal women with osteoporosis were enrolled. Investigators are looking at whether AGA2118 helped increase bone mineral density at the lumbar spine. The biotech’s third candidate, AGA2115, entered Phase 2 last month for osteogenesis imperfecta, a genetic connective tissue disorder. Patients in the US and EU have access to the trial. The antibody goes after the same two targets as the osteoporosis candidate. There are no FDA-approved treatments for the condition, also known as brittle bone disease. Ultragenyx and Mereo BioPharma’s sclerostin-inhibiting antibody failed two Phase 3 trials in the condition. Angitia said it also has a discovery lab to bring more experimental medicines into the pipeline. The company was founded by CEO David Ke in 2018. He had helped lead UCB and Amgen’s osteoporosis drug Evenity toward approval. In 2022, Ke recruited his former Amgen colleague Willard Dere to become chief medical officer. Dere worked on multiple osteoporosis drugs at Amgen and has served on the boards of BioMarin, Metagenomi and other biotechs. Editor’s note: This story has been updated to correct that Angitia is testing whether AGA2118 increases, not decreases, bone mineral density.