Moonwalk Biosciences Closes $70M Series B to Advance Adipose-Targeted RNAi for Obesity
核心洞察
Moonwalk Biosciences (搜索) closed an oversubscribed $70 million Series B financing to develop first-in-class adipose-targeted RNA interference (RNAi) medicines for obesity (搜索) and cardiometabolic diseases.
Proceeds will advance lead candidate MW101 (搜索) into first-in-human studies in late 2027 and expand the company's tissue-targeted siRNA pipeline and discovery platform.
Preclinical studies demonstrated reductions in body weight and fat mass while preserving lean muscle and without reducing food intake, supporting potential quarterly or twice-yearly dosing.
Moonwalk Biosciences (搜索) has closed an oversubscribed $70 million Series B financing to develop first-in-class adipose-targeted RNA interference (RNAi) medicines for obesity (搜索) and cardiometabolic diseases. The round was co-led by Alpha Wave and YK Bioventures, with participation from Eli Lilly and Company, Gaorong Ventures, and existing investors ARCH Venture Partners, Khosla Ventures and Future Ventures.
Proceeds from the round will support advancement of Moonwalk's lead obesity (搜索) candidate, MW101 (搜索), into first-in-human clinical studies in late 2027, as well as expansion of the company's pipeline of tissue-targeted siRNA medicines and further development of its proprietary discovery platform.
A Non-Incretin Approach to Obesity
Moonwalk's programs are designed to selectively deliver siRNA therapeutics directly to adipose tissue, enabling precise modulation of novel, non-incretin pathways underlying obesity (搜索). The company combines human genetics, epigenomics and multi-omics discovery with proprietary tissue-targeting chemistry to unlock previously inaccessible biology, with the goal of developing first-in-class medicines with the potential for durable efficacy, preservation of lean muscle mass and infrequent dosing.
"Obesity (搜索) is one of the most significant global health challenges, and Moonwalk is pursuing a fundamentally different approach to treating it," said Rick Gerson, co-founder, chairman and chief executive officer of Alpha Wave Global. "By targeting adipose tissue directly, Moonwalk may redefine how obesity is treated by delivering therapies with the potential for durable efficacy, lean muscle preservation and infrequent dosing."
Unlike GLP-1 drugs that have dominated the obesity (搜索) market, Moonwalk's prospects are not appetite suppressants. CEO Alex Aravanis said this could provide an advantage in avoiding gastrointestinal side effects and helping preserve muscle. "Our mechanisms are around modulating, so increasing the metabolism and lipolysis, which break down fat, and the energy regulation within the fat cells," Aravanis said.
Platform and Preclinical Evidence
The platform is built to enable highly specific modulation of adipose biology while minimizing effects on other tissues. Moonwalk exclusively licensed its adipose-targeting chemistry from Suzhou Siran Biotechnology (搜索) Co., Ltd. for its first-in-class pipeline, which focuses on modulating pathways involved in energy homeostasis, adipogenesis, lipolysis and thermogenesis.
Across multiple preclinical studies, Moonwalk demonstrated reductions in both body weight and fat mass while still preserving lean muscle mass, and without reducing food intake. The company has also generated translational evidence showing favorable modulation of metabolic pathways consistent with healthy adipose remodeling. In non-human primate studies, Moonwalk demonstrated durable adipose target engagement following a single dose, supporting the potential for quarterly or twice-yearly dosing.
"What stood out to us about Moonwalk is the depth of the science behind the platform and the strength of the preclinical evidence generated to date," said Chris Dimitropoulos, managing director, life sciences investments at Alpha Wave Global. "By combining adipose-selective RNAi delivery with human genetics, epigenomics and multi-omics discovery, the Moonwalk team has devised a highly precise way to modulate adipose biology."
Evolution of the Company's Strategy
Moonwalk Biosciences (搜索) launched in 2024 with plans to mine the epigenome for new drugs, backed by Arch Venture Partners and Khosla Ventures to develop a treatment based on gene editing technology licensed from the Broad Institute. Aravanis described the shift toward RNAi as "more of an evolution of the story," noting that the company's scientists initially looked at the epigenome to find new targets but determined that RNAi treatments, which can mute a gene before it sends out instructions to make troublesome or mutated proteins, "would be a faster way for us to bring it to the clinic."
Moonwalk was co-founded by Alex Aravanis, M.D., Ph.D., Arash Jamshidi, Ph.D., and Justin Valley, Ph.D., biotechnology leaders with decades of experience translating complex science into clinical products.
Competitive Landscape
Moonwalk is part of a small class of biotechs developing nucleic acid therapies for obesity (搜索) and metabolic disorders. ADARx Pharmaceuticals (搜索), which recently filed plans for an initial public offering, is also involved. A third competitor, Wave Life Sciences, has in mid-stage testing its own siRNA drug, WVE-007, in people with obesity. While data from an earlier trial showed "substantial reductions of fat" and waist circumference, Wave's drug fell short of investor expectations for how it would perform. That drug goes after targets in the liver, rather than regulating fat cells like Moonwalk's technology.
Leadership and Next Steps
Alongside the financing, Moonwalk appointed Dr. Stephen Djedjos as senior vice president, clinical development, bringing more than 20 years of clinical and drug development experience. Most recently, he served as senior vice president and head of clinical development at Kailera Therapeutics, where he led clinical development as the company advanced its incretin therapies for obesity (搜索) and metabolic diseases. He previously held senior clinical development roles at Mineralys Therapeutics, Sana Biotechnology, Gilead Sciences and Amgen, where he contributed to the development and approval of Repatha.
MW101 (搜索) is expected to enter first-in-human clinical studies following completion of ongoing IND-enabling studies. In parallel, the company is advancing multiple additional tissue-targeted siRNA programs for obesity (搜索) and cardiometabolic diseases.
"Obesity (搜索) places an extraordinary physical and emotional burden on millions of people," said Alex Aravanis, chief executive officer and co-founder of Moonwalk Biosciences (搜索). "This financing brings us closer to developing a new generation of adipose-targeted medicines designed to improve outcomes for people living with obesity and related cardiometabolic diseases."