Ambrosia Life Sciences Pvt Ltd.

Ambrosia Biosciences entered the biotech scene Tuesday with a $16-million series A and a team assembled from those affected by the shutdown of Pfizer’s Boulder, Colorado research site in April.In 2019, Pfizer shelled out a whopping $11.4 billion to acquire Array, its two approved cancer drugs Braftovi (encorafenib) and Mektovi (binimetinib), a broad early-stage pipeline of targeted oncology medicines, and the Boulder research unit. "Array BioPharma was among the best small molecule drug discovery teams on the planet," said Kyle Lefkoff, executive chair of Ambrosia.Last year, however, analysts speculated the pharma might “externalise” the cancer-focussed research group. In October, Pfizer began laying off staff at the Boulder site, and officially shuttered operations there this April. "With the recent shut down of the Pfizer/Array R&D facility here in Boulder, we have re-assembled the Array medicinal chemistry team at Ambrosia to apply that same expertise to obesity,” Lefkoff commented.Looking to build on the success of injectable GLP-1 agonists for weight loss — which have helped skyrocket Eli Lilly’s valuation to nearly $1 trillion — Ambrosia is focussing on orally delivered small molecules that target incretins and other class B GPCRs. Tuesday’s round, which was led by BVF Partners and Boulder Ventures, will help the firm scale up its drug discovery activities and lab operations.