GLP-1 start-up Metsera launches with $290 million

After selling his previous firm, The Medicines Company, to Novartis for $9.7 billion , Clive Meanwell is on to his next challenge: a start-up called Metsera that aims to expand on the success of glucagon-like peptide-1 amide (GLP-1) drugs. Metsera formally launched this month, about 2 years after its founding by Arch Venture Partners and Population Health Partners. Meanwell chairs the latter firm. The start-up has received $290 million from investors including F-Prime Capital, GV (formerly Google Ventures), Mubadala Investment, Newpath Partners, and SoftBank Vision Fund 2. Metsera is advancing a suite of peptide and peptide-antibody conjugate drugs for weight loss and other indications, all based on GLP-1 agonists. The technical foundation for its drugs comes from Zihipp Limited, a London start-up Metsera acquired for its vast library of 20,000-plus gut hormone peptides. Zihipp was chaired by Stephen Bloom, who was among the first scientists to publish on the role