Life-long friends Business BioAge Labs (BIOA.US) plans to raise $100 million through IPO, relying on AI-driven research and development of weight loss and anti-aging drugs.

Biotechnology startup BioAge Labs (BIOA.US), focusing on obesity treatment, announced on Tuesday that the company has filed for an initial public offering in the United States, planning to raise $100 million and listing on Nasdaq; however, pricing terms were not disclosed. The company's main drug candidate, azelaprag, is an oral small molecule drug that has shown promising results in preclinical and early clinical trials, particularly when used in combination with GLP-1R agonists to enhance weight loss effects. The company has initiated a mid-stage trial in partnership with Eli Lilly's Zepbound and plans to start a second trial with Novo Nordisk A/S Sponsored ADR Class B's Wegovy in the first half of 2025. In addition to weight loss, azelaprag can also identify promising targets related to age-related molecular changes by utilizing a unique technology platform and proprietary human data set to improve body composition and muscle function. BioAge Labs is currently conducting Phase II clinical trials to evaluate the potential use of azelaprag in combination with existing obesity treatment drugs, aiming to develop an all-oral obesity drug for United Therapeutics Corporation. Revenue data from the first batch of trials is expected to be announced in the third quarter of 2025. The company is also advancing a brain-penetrant NLRP3 inhibitor for treating neuroinflammatory diseases and plans to submit an IND in the second half of 2025. To date, BioAge's research on aging issues is focused on three areas: metabolic and muscle aging, brain aging, and immune aging. Leveraging its unique AI drug discovery platform, BioAge also has multiple pipelines in development, targeting indications including obesity, neuroinflammation, acute muscle wasting, and other age-related diseases. Founded in 2015 and headquartered in Richmond, California, the company is dedicated to developing innovative drugs using AI technology to treat aging and age-related diseases and extend human healthspan. BioAge secretly filed its application on May 31, 2024. Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., Morgan Stanley, Jefferies Financial Group Inc., and Citigroup are the joint book-running managers for this transaction. A few months ago, BioAge raised $170 million in a financing round led by life science investment company Sofinnova Investments. The company incurred a loss of $26.6 million in the first half of this year, compared to a loss of $28.3 million in the same period in 2023.